However, the men living in that halfway house, including Oxford House’s founder Paul Molloy, were not ready to leave. Today Oxford House has more than 20,000 residents at more than 3,500 homes across 47 states and several foreign countries. There’s no time limit on how long a member can live in an Oxford House. The average stay is about a year, but many members stay three, four, or more years.

Q. What is needed to expand the number of Oxford Houses?

Applicants must complete this membership application and be interviewed by the house they are looking to live at. A long-running study by Chicago’s DePaul University shows that people completing one year of residency maintain a sobriety rate as high as oxford house traditions 80 percent. View and download the latest House and Chapter Manuals, along with other forms used to conduct weekly house meetings. Any member who drinks alcohol or uses drugs will be immediately expelled.

Democratically self-run

The average stay is about a year, but many residents stay three, four, or more years. Oxford House Inc., is a non-profit, tax exempt, publicly supported corporation which acts as a umbrella organization for the national network of Oxford Houses. It provides quality control by organizing regional Houses into Chapters and by relying heavily upon the national network of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups.

Q. How did Oxford House get started?

Living within an Oxford House provides both the opportunity and motivation for all residents to regularly attend AA and/or NA meetings. The example of Oxford House members going to AA or NA meetings on their own is contagious. When we stopped drinking, we began to realize that in order to stay stopped, our lives would need to change. Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous provided a framework for us to change physically, mentally, and spiritually. The degree to which we were able to successfully change our lives had a direct relationship to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Many of us soon learned, however, that living alone or living Alcoholics Anonymous among our old drinking companions made it more difficult to practice the principles necessary for continued sobriety.

Oxford Houses work because they are:

The rent that is charged the members is determined by the members themselves in a democratic fashion. The rules which govern the house are for the most part also made by those who live in a particular Oxford House Such autonomy is essential for the Oxford House system to work. An underlying principle of Oxford House is that each individual member has the ability to be responsible for himself.

While Oxford House is not affiliated with AA or NA, its members realize that recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction can only be assured by the changing of their lifestyle through full participation in AA and NA. In most communities, the members of those organizations help Oxford Houses get started and report any charter compliance problems to the national office of Oxford House World Services with respect to a particular house. As soon as Oxford House Inc., hears of such problems, it takes corrective action because the good name of Oxford House is an important factor in the recovery of thousands of individuals. It is no more difficult than for an ordinary family to find a house to rent.

• Repayment from those start-up loans assures the continuation of the revolving fund to enable other new houses to get started — just as repayment of loans to chapters permits the same resources to be used again and again.
• They called their experiment in group living and joint sobriety Oxford House.
• Once more applications are received than there are beds available, the members of any Oxford House will begin to look around for another suitable house.
• If you have any items in your home that you no longer need, you may consider a donation to a local Oxford House.
• Each Oxford House member, as an individual, considers himself a member of AA and/or NA.

House Forms​

Experience has shown that Oxford Houses work for both men and women, but not in the same house. While research on AA has been limited by the role of anonymity in recovery, the willingness of the Oxford Houses to open their doors to academic research gives us an opportunity to see recovery from addiction in action. List member’s assignments and rotate jobs so that everyone equally shares work to be done. Everything your Oxford House needs in order to run successful house meetings. This brought members and alumni from all over the country together to enjoy fellowship and learn more about Oxford House. “We found that participants assigned to a communal living Oxford House compared to usual care condition had significantly less substance use and criminal involvement and, significantly better employment outcomes.”

The OHI field staff travel to Oxford Houses, Chapters, and Associations to provide technical assistance and training, assist with expansion, and network in the community. We’ll show you how Oxford Houses work together to form a self-supporting network of houses. The Oxford House Model is the unique, time-tested system of operations; an evidence-based practice shown to bring significant results currently unmatched in the recovery space.

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Oxford Houses are democratically self-run by the residents who elect officers to serve for terms of six months. In this respect, they are similar to a college fraternity, sorority, or a small New England town. Officers have fixed terms of office to avoid bossism or corruption of egalitarian democracy. Every member has an equal vote regardless of how long they’ve been there. During 2010, approximately 24,000 individuals lived in an Oxford House for some or part of the year.