About this Recovery House
Dawn Farm is a coed sober living community on Stony Creek Road in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in Washtenaw County. Its transitional housing program is certified by MARR as Level 3 male and female specialty housing, and it is one of the largest recovery housing networks in southeast Michigan.
A Coed Recovery Residence on Stony Creek Road
The Stony Creek Road property is the farm itself, on the rural southern edge of Ypsilanti Township a short drive from both Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. Around it the organization runs more than a dozen further housing locations across the two cities, in a mix of single-family homes and apartments. A resident is joining a network, and the practical effect is that a move to a different level of structure, a quieter household or a location closer to work does not mean starting over with a new provider.
MARR Level 3 Specialty Housing Certification
Level 3 in the Michigan Association of Recovery Residences scale means supervised recovery housing with organized programming and an administrative structure behind the household, and the specialty designation reflects populations the program houses deliberately. Certification through Michigan's affiliate of the National Alliance for Recovery Residences binds the program to a code of ethics, to disclosing fees and rules in writing before move-in, to a written relapse and discharge policy, and to a complaint process outside the house. Michigan licenses none of this, so a certified listing is the only external check a prospective resident has.
Structure and Length of Stay in This Sober Living Program
Residents stay six months to two years, which is long by the standards of the field and long enough for the point of the program to land. The published expectations are consistent across the network:
- Hold a job, or follow a structured plan of daily groups and volunteering if unable to work.
- Contribute to running the household.
- Attend twelve-step meetings and take part in community life.
- Attend the weekly house meeting and observe curfew.
- Submit to regular drug and alcohol testing.
Every house manager is in long-term recovery and is directly supervised by a social worker. That reporting line is the part worth noticing. It puts a clinician's judgment behind decisions about relapse and discharge, which in peer-run housing frequently rest on one person's instinct.
What the Monthly Fee Covers at This Ypsilanti Recovery Home
The rate is $570 a month. For a resident working an entry-level job in Washtenaw County, that is well under market rent for a room in either Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti, and the gap is what makes a long stay affordable enough to be useful.
Medication-Assisted Recovery and LGBTQ Residents in This Sober House
Medication for opioid use disorder is accepted, a felony record is not a bar to admission, and the housing is ADA accessible. The program states that it is LGBTQ friendly and that transgender residents are assigned housing in accordance with their self-identified gender. Very little recovery housing in Michigan says that out loud, and for a transgender person in early recovery an explicit policy is the difference between applying and not bothering.
Recovery Housing for Parents With Young Children
One location, Strong Roots, houses parents with young children. Losing housing and losing custody usually happen in the same month, and a recovery residence that keeps a parent and a small child together removes the reason many parents leave treatment early. Placement is arranged through the organization.
Washtenaw County Recovery Housing in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti
Ann Arbor is the county seat and holds the University of Michigan, Michigan Medicine and the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center. Ypsilanti adds Eastern Michigan University and a cheaper cost of living, and the two are joined by Washtenaw Avenue and the TheRide bus network. Washtenaw County's courts, community mental health services and outpatient providers sit inside that corridor, so a resident here can hold a job in one city, attend treatment in the other and get to both on a bus.
Each resident must get a job, attend daily AA or NA meetings, and pay a modest amount for room and board. In addition, all residents must do service work with other addicts and alcoholics, as well as volunteer in some other form of community service.Each house or apartment is a simple community that values sobriety and responsibility. The Chapin Street Project changes lives
