Brentwood Recovery Home board members and staff are celebrating the opening of four new transitional housing units.
An official opening for the units took place on Wednesday.
Director of development Mark Lennox says the transitional homes are a pathway to recovery for people suffering from drug and alcohol addiction.
Lennox says their staff came up with the idea six months ago after graduates found it hard to find affordable accommodations.
"The housing that was out there wasn't affordable or was just terrible," says Lennox.
Lennox tells CTV News each room will have double occupancy and two of the four units are already occupied.
“It's not a cheap endeavor and we figure each unit will be close to $10,000 for the year," says Lennox about the cost.
David Richardson has been sober for ten years, and believes the transitional housing at Brentwood will help graduates remain sober.
"The transitional housing or rooms that Brentwood has here will make a difference for a lot of guys to build some kind of stability," says Richardson.
Another graduate, Mike Losier, tells CTV News without proper accommodations, it's easy to fall back into bad habits.
"It's very easy to lose sight of what you were working for and I've proven that before because I've been here three times, so I needed someone to watch over me," says Losier.
With more than 100 people in the program, Lennox hopes graduates will be able to move on within three months.
Officials say there is a shortage of affordable housing in Windsor-Essex. In Windsor alone, there is a waiting list of 4,500 people who are looking for affordable housing.
Lennox says the goal is to one day expand to 20 transitional housing units with 30 to 40 beds to accommodate female and young adult graduates.
But to make that happen, Lennox says they will need help from alumni and the local community.
Graduates will pay about $400 a month to stay in one of the transitional units. The cost covers food, laundry facilities and access to other amenities such as computers to help them look for work.
