About this Recovery House
Carter House is a men's recovery home on Willis Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio, in Mahoning County. It is part of The Carter Houses, a Youngstown nonprofit running a Community Transitional Housing Program, and it operates as a drug and alcohol free residence.
Transitional Sober Living on Youngstown's South Side
The Carter Houses were founded by Norman Carter, who serves as executive director. The organization's stated purpose is a safe, drug-free environment where residents can use professional resources and become productive members of the community. Willis Avenue runs through Youngstown's south side, in the residential blocks below downtown, which puts residents within reach of the county's reentry and treatment services.
A Recovery Home Built Around Reentry
Most residents arrive by referral from the criminal justice system. In 2023 the program served forty-three clients, with eighty-seven percent referred by the Adult Parole Authority and thirteen percent by the Bureau of Community Sanctions. That referral pattern shapes the house. Residents typically arrive with supervision conditions to meet and a limited window to meet them, and the program is built to help them do it.
Case Management and Support in This Sober Living Home
The program offers temporary housing, unlimited case management, referrals to community services, and professional resources and training aimed at independence and financial stability. Unlimited case management is the unusual item on that list. Reentry housing often hands a resident a bed and a checklist. A caseworker who will keep taking the call is what turns a bed into a transition.
Recovery Housing in Youngstown and Mahoning County
Youngstown is the seat of Mahoning County and the larger of the Mahoning Valley's two cities. The county courthouse, the common pleas drug court, the county job and family services offices and most of the area's outpatient providers sit downtown, within reach of the south side neighborhoods where most of the city's transitional housing is located. Mahoning County carries one of Ohio's higher overdose rates and has built a correspondingly dense network of peer support and treatment services.
Ohio Sober House Standards and What to Ask
Ohio certifies recovery residences through Ohio Recovery Housing, which publishes each certified address at the Peer-Run, Managed or Supervised level and binds it to a code of ethics, written disclosure of fees and rules, and an outside complaint process. Reentry housing and certified recovery housing are separate systems that overlap heavily in Ohio, and the questions to ask here cover both: what rent is and what it covers, how long a stay runs, what happens if a resident relapses, whether medication for opioid use disorder is accepted, and how the program coordinates with a parole officer.
Our sober house mission is to bring male alcoholics and substance abusers into recovery and to assist them in becoming sober, productive members of the community. This process involves providing a safe haven free of drugs and alcohol. Â We provide support in healthy lifestyles, creating opportunities for meaningful change, providing guidance and advice; and assisting our residents in finding jobs.
