About this Sober House
The Broadway recovery residence at 841 Broadway in South Portland, Maine, is a men's sober house in Cumberland County, operated by Freedom House. It is one of two Freedom House addresses on Broadway and runs on the same twelve-step foundation as the organization's other men's homes.
Finding a Place at the Broadway House
The house takes men in recovery, and the organization's admissions position is that income, a mental health diagnosis and a criminal history are not bars to a bed. For men coming out of treatment, out of custody or out of a shelter, that is usually the first question, and the answer here is settled before the conversation starts.
Arriving with nothing in place is anticipated rather than penalised. Residents who need medical services, psychiatric care or social services are given referrals and resources for those services when they enter, and the house also helps men obtain employment and health insurance. None of that care is delivered inside the house; the house connects people to it and expects them to follow it up.
Help with employment and health insurance is the part men most often underestimate. Coverage and a pay packet are what turn a bed in a sober house into a plan, and getting both sorted early is far easier with someone alongside who has done the same paperwork with other residents in the same city.
How the House Works Day to Day
Freedom House runs a twelve-step-based sober living program, and 841 Broadway operates on that model. Residents attend twelve-step meetings, join a home group and work the steps with a sponsor, so a man's week is anchored to fellowship outside the house as much as to the household itself.
New residents serve a thirty-day probationary period with a curfew. The first month is the point at which most placements succeed or fail, and the curfew exists to keep early evenings accounted for while someone is still building a routine and a sponsor relationship. After that period the same standards continue, but with more latitude in how a resident organizes the day.
Staying as Long as It Takes
One feature distinguishes this house from a good deal of transitional housing: residents may stay as long as they wish. There is no fixed program length counting down from the day of arrival, and staff support the move to independent living when a resident is ready for it rather than when a clock runs out.
That is a meaningful difference for men whose recovery does not fit a ninety-day template. Someone rebuilding a work history, waiting on housing, repairing family relationships or managing a psychiatric condition alongside a substance use disorder can take the time that actually takes, and can plan a move out around a job or a lease rather than around a deadline.
South Portland and the Greater Portland Recovery Community
South Portland is a working city on the south side of Portland Harbor and part of Cumberland County, the most populous county in Maine. Its Broadway corridor carries bus service, shops and employers, which is the practical background to a house where residents are expected to be occupied and are helped into work.
Living in South Portland also places a resident inside the greater Portland recovery network without being in the center of the city. Meetings across Cumberland County are plentiful, treatment and peer support providers are concentrated in the same area, and a man who moves on from the house can usually stay near the same meetings and the same sponsor. That continuity is one of the quieter arguments for choosing recovery housing in this part of Maine.
The location is a long-standing one in the state's records: the statewide recovery residence directory published in July 2020 listed a Freedom House men's residence at 841 Broadway in South Portland, alongside the organization's other Portland-area addresses.
About Our Men's Sober Living Program
We are a 12-step-based sober living program.
All residents are required to attend 12-step meetings, join a home group and work the steps with a sponsor.
There is also a 30-day probationary period where residents must be in the house at curfew (no overnights).
House chores are regularly assigned.
If residents miss curfew, violate house rules, or are otherwise disruptive they are placed on “contract†with the hopes that they will be able to maintain residence in the house and continue to grow in their recovery.
Drug and alcohol use is not tolerated. Any use is grounds for dismissal. Residents asked to leave due to a relapse can reapply after 30 days.
There are no refunds given on rent paid.
Residents also must be active in the community and perform service work, work, or go to school at least 20 hours per week and attend a mandatory house meeting once a week.
Residents may stay as long as they wish, and staff are available for support in transitioning to independence.
Residents in need of medical services, psychiatric care, or social services receive referrals and resources for those services upon entry. Help in obtaining employment and health insurance is also available.
