St. Marie's House of Serenity

About St. Marie's House of Serenity

St. Marie's House of Serenity is a sober living operator in Ypsilanti, Michigan, providing certified recovery housing for women in Washtenaw County. Its housing is certified at Level 1, the peer-run tier, which is the least common designation in the state.

A Peer-Run Recovery Housing Provider in Washtenaw County

Level 1 housing is governed by the residents themselves. There is no paid staff living in the building; the household shares the work, sets the rhythm and holds its members to the rules. Running housing that way asks a great deal of an operator, because it means selecting residents who can carry that responsibility and stepping back once they do. What the model buys a woman is autonomy: accountability comes from the people she lives with and not from someone paid to watch her.

What This Operator Expects of Residents in Its Sober Living

Every resident holds a role in the household, whether that is a share of the chores or responsibility for upholding house rules. Participation in house meetings, house activities, community service work and recovery programming is required. Those requirements are how a peer-run home functions at all, and they describe the week a woman is signing up for. The operator is open about them in public, which lets an applicant judge the fit before she applies.

Certification for This Ypsilanti Recovery Residence Operator

The housing is certified by the Michigan Association of Recovery Residences, the Michigan affiliate of the National Alliance for Recovery Residences. Michigan has no state licensure, registry or certification requirement for recovery residences, so certification was volunteered and it is the only external standard that exists here. Even at the peer-run level it commits the housing to a published code of ethics, to written disclosure of fees and rules before move-in, to a written relapse and discharge policy, and to a complaint process that reaches outside the household. For a house with no staff, that outside route matters more than it does anywhere else.

Fees and Admissions at This Women's Sober Living Operator

The monthly fee is $550. Women on medication for opioid use disorder are accepted, and applicants with felony records are accepted. The questions to put to the operator are how residents are selected, what happens when someone falls behind on the fee, and how the household resolves a conflict when no staff member is there to settle it.

Serving Ypsilanti and the Ann Arbor Area

Ypsilanti sits on the Huron River east of Ann Arbor, the Washtenaw County seat, and the two cities share a transit system, a labor market and a hospital network. Eastern Michigan University is in Ypsilanti and Washtenaw Community College sits between the two, while the county courts and Community Mental Health services are a short ride west. Rents here run below Ann Arbor's, which is why much of the county's recovery housing has settled on this side, and a resident can reach class, work and treatment on the AAATA network.

Who This Recovery Housing Provider Suits

The right applicant is a woman with some sobriety behind her who wants a low-cost, self-governed household and is prepared to carry part of the load. A woman who needs supervision, staff on site or clinical services in the building is looking for a higher tier of recovery housing, and asking that question honestly at the start saves everyone a failed placement.