The Way Home Coed Recovery Home

About this Recovery Home

The Way Home is a recovery residence on Kirkwood Boulevard SW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the seat of Linn County. It is a twenty-four unit apartment community operated by the Area Substance Abuse Council, and it houses families continuing recovery after substance use disorder treatment.

Family Apartments in a Cedar Rapids Recovery Residence

Twenty-four apartments make this one of the larger pieces of recovery housing stock in eastern Iowa, and the format changes who can use it. Households keep their own unit and their own front door, so a parent does not have to choose between staying in recovery housing and living with their children. The complex is equipped with resources that support recovery, and it is designed for long-term tenancy. Kirkwood Boulevard SW sits on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids near the community college campus, with the airport, the industrial employers along the Highway 30 corridor and the city bus network all close by.

Tenant Criteria for This Cedar Rapids Recovery Housing

Tenant criteria follow HUD and Affordable Housing Network guidelines, and priority goes to applicants who recently completed substance use disorder treatment. Income must fall below fifty percent of the regional median. Applicants need at least two months of verifiable employment. Every bedroom must be occupied by an adult or a child, with an expected baby counting toward the total, and no applicant may appear on the sex offender registry. Everyone agrees to the apartment and complex rules. Applications go through an ASAC counselor or directly to the organization.

Long-Term Transitional Housing From an Eastern Iowa Recovery Housing Provider

The Area Substance Abuse Council has run prevention, outpatient care, residential treatment and recovery services across eastern Iowa for decades, from fourteen locations spread over seven counties. Housing is the end of that chain. A family living here can keep the same care navigator and peer recovery coach it had during treatment, and the organization's staff work on employment, childcare and long-term living arrangements alongside the tenancy itself. The continuity is the point of the model.

Linn County Recovery Housing on the Southwest Side

Cedar Rapids is the county seat of Linn County and the anchor of a metro of roughly a quarter million people. The southwest side carries much of the city's manufacturing and distribution employment, and Kirkwood Community College sits on the same side of town, so a resident can reach work and classes without crossing the city. Family-sized recovery housing is rare anywhere in Iowa, and a household that would otherwise be split between a shelter and a sober house can stay together at this address.