About this Sober House
Meraki Recovery Housing - Blaine is a men's sober living home in Blaine, Minnesota, in Anoka County, seven miles east of the county seat at Anoka. It is one of eleven residences Meraki Recovery Housing runs across the north metro. The operator publishes no street address for the house, and placement is arranged through its office.
A Men's Sober House in Anoka County's Largest City
Blaine is the biggest city in Anoka County and the one with the most going on: the National Sports Center, the Highway 65 and Highway 10 retail corridors, clinics, and the warehouse and trades employers that hire most of the men who live in recovery housing here. For a resident, that density means work he can reach and meetings he can walk into on short notice, without moving into Minneapolis.
The Program Behind This Recovery Residence
Meraki Recovery Housing publishes one set of terms for every house it runs. A man enters with 28 days of proven sobriety and a negative screen. He attends three recovery meetings a week and puts thirty hours a week into work, school, treatment or volunteering. He sits the Sunday house meeting and takes his turn on chores twice a week. The program fee is $700 a month, with a $250 application fee at intake.
Why the Thirty-Hour Rule Shapes This Sober Living Home
Most house rules exist to keep a residence orderly. The thirty-hour expectation exists to keep residents occupied during the daytime hours when a man out of treatment has the most unstructured time and the least practice filling it. It also means the household is largely empty on weekday afternoons, which is a real difference from a house where residents sit idle together.
Certification Standards for Minnesota Recovery Homes
The Minnesota Association of Sober Homes certifies recovery residences in Minnesota, and the program is voluntary under state law. Its standards are a useful checklist for any applicant: written disclosure of fees and rules before move-in, a documented relapse and discharge policy, a published code of ethics, and a complaint process that runs outside the house. Ask a house for all four in writing.
Sober Homes Across the North Metro
Beyond Blaine, the operator houses residents in Ramsey, Ham Lake, Brooklyn Center, Anoka, Coon Rapids and Columbia Heights. The network is tight enough that a change of address rarely means a change of job, meeting or provider.
Sober living houses also called sober homes and sober living environments, are facilities that provide safe housing and supportive, structured living conditions for people exiting drug rehabilitation programs. Sober houses serve as a transitional environment between such programs and mainstream society.
