The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Road to Hope House plans recovery center
An old motel complex is receiving new life by way of recovery housing and a relocation of administrative offices in Vermilion.
The Road to Hope House Inc. provides drug- and alcohol-free residential housing to those struggling with addiction in Lorain and Erie counties.
The organization has begun working with the city of Vermilion to renovate run-down buildings in the complex, also known as Mackenzie Woods, 1863 Liberty Ave.
Jeff Kamms, executive director of Road to Hope, said the organization hopes to kick off the project in November, with the location operational in November 2020.
The complex, consisting of buildings formatted in a U-shape, previously was owned by the Lorain County Port Authority.
Vermilion Mayor Jim Forthofer said the County Port Authority then sold the land to Road to Hope.
Kamms said the county initially reached out to the organization in early January concerning the property.
After the organization’s board of directors visited the site, Kamms said they were hooked.
“The setup of it was wonderful,” he said. “To walk through and see the setup and design of it, how it’s got the buildings in a U-shape with a center building, to look past and envision what it could be.”
Lorain County Commissioner Lori Kokoski recently reached out to Forthofer during a meeting to advise the city to help the organization get established at its new location.
“If we can make that sort of dangerous complex into a productive, cleaned up, nice property, then we’re all good with that,” Forthofer said. “It also aligns with our corridor cleanup plan, which we’re very happy about.”
Kamms said the organization and its architect met with the mayor, Safety Service director Tony Valerius and representatives from the Building Department to begin the very first stages of the project.
These include conducting a design and locating utilities on the property.
Kamms said the complex’s buildings will be renovated with eight two-bed rooms and four one-bed rooms for level one housing.
“Level one housing is for individuals that have came through the program already at higher levels and have started to reestablish their life, but are not completely ready to be back out on their own,” he said.
Crews will renovate the central building in the complex for new administrative offices, with two rooms to potentially use for community, county and daycare services.
Road to Hope, founded in 2007, currently has seven recovery housing locations in Elyria, Oberlin and Sandusky, and recently took over Road to Hope Genesis By the Lake in Vermilion, which offers sober living to women and their children.
Given the high demand of services for women at their current Vermilion location, Kamms said the organization is pondering making the new location for women and their children.
With widespread locations across two counties, Kamms said the Vermilion site will provide a more centralized location for its staff.
If the location were to be used for women and children, the administrative office move also would prove convenient, since more staff would be needed on premises for additional services, he said.
Kamms said the organization will build a capital application for the project and will speak with county and state representatives.
He said he hopes bringing more quality recovery housing to the area will help change perspectives on the issue.
“Bringing certified quality housing into a community and having a set of standards to have to abide by within with oversight, is of vital importance,” Kamms said. “It’s something that I think will change the perception of what recovery housing looks like and should look like.”
Given the high demand of services for women at their current Vermilion location, Kamms said the organization is pondering making the new location for women and their children.