Friendship Sober Living House

About Friendship House

Friendship House is a Christian charitable organization in South Portland, Maine, that runs one sober house for men in Cumberland County. It was founded in 1985 and has operated continuously since, providing a home for men in recovery from substance use disorder who have little or no income and need a safe place to live.

How Friendship House Is Funded and Governed

The organization is entirely privately funded. It states that all of its funding comes from private donations and that it receives no local, state or federal money, which is unusual among Maine recovery housing providers and shapes everything from how the house is maintained to how it fundraises through the year.

Friendship House is governed by a volunteer board of directors and led by an executive director. It is a small organization by design: one house, one community of supporters, and a mission expressed as extending the love of God to the poor and disadvantaged by providing a safe home where hope and healing are offered to people who are broken spiritually, emotionally or physically.

Where Referrals Come From

Because it is one of the longer-established sober houses in greater Portland, Friendship House receives referrals from across the region's health, justice and social service systems: hospitals, detox facilities, caseworkers, probation officers, the department of corrections, short-term rehab programs, homeless shelters and crisis management facilities, as well as churches, family and friends.

Finding Out More

Details of the house itself who it accepts, how the household runs, how long men stay and its certification through the Maine Association of Recovery Residences are set out on the listing for the residence in South Portland.

A Maine Sober Living Operator Since 1985

Four decades of continuous operation is the most useful fact about this organization. A provider that has held one mission in greater Portland since 1985 has outlasted several cycles of funding, policy and demand, and the private donations paying for it carry no billing relationship and no state contract. That settles who the organization answers to: a volunteer board and a body of donors, judged on how the home is run and how the money is spent. It also ties capacity to fundraising, which is why the annual appeals matter to the housing itself.

Accountability for This South Portland Recovery Housing Provider

Certification through the Maine Association of Recovery Residences is voluntary in Maine and is granted residence by residence, so a provider carrying it has agreed to disclose fees and rules in writing, to keep a written relapse and discharge policy, and to accept complaint review from outside the household. At the organization level, the revealing questions are about process. How is an application handled, and how long does the wait usually run? What is a resident asked to pay, and how is that documented when income is minimal or absent? Where do the board and the executive director divide decisions? And how does a grievance escalate past house staff to the director and then to the certifying body? An organization taking referrals from hospitals, corrections and caseworkers for forty years has answered all of it before.