HIA's Facilities Team Maintains the Standard of Sober Living

HIA's Facilities Team Maintains the Standard of Sober Living

It can be shocking for new residents — especially if they’ve had previous experience with sober living — to take their first step into a Hope is Alive recovery home and discover just how inviting, organized, and comfortable it is. In general, this standard of refinement is a far cry from what they were expecting.

This level of care is intentional. A warm feeling of welcome is essential to the success of the HIA program and is partially what sets it apart from other sober living facilities.

“Our primary purpose is to care for the residents in the homes,” said John Nutall, Hope is Alive’s Facilities Operations Manager. “It’s not simply keeping the home functioning — it’s caring for the home and demonstrating to our residents the level of attention and detail and maintenance so they know they’re cared for and that they matter.”

For John, this purpose was solidified before he was ever on staff at Hope is Alive.

“Being a former resident myself, when I first came into HIA, I wanted to get sober, but I wasn’t sold out that a faith-based program could do me any good,” John said. “But here were other people in the house who had some sobriety behind them, and it was a nice, clean, beautiful home. I’m a very clean person by nature anyway, so to walk into a home where the residents weren’t stacked like cordwood in there, the home was clean, well-kept, and well-maintained… it helped keep me in the home to the point where I graduated.”

Maintaining Hope is Alive’s 26 homes takes an incredible amount of work, but it’s work that is well worth the effort for HIA’s dedicated Facilities Team.

“We’re continually upgrading these homes,” John said. “New furnishings, new fixtures, ceiling fans, lighting, décor… we don’t want them to look dated. Nothing’s broken, the showers always work, the heat’s always on.”

Most (if not all) of HIAs homes were intended as single-family residences, and while each resident is treated like family, well, each home is like a big family of many people. Which means things like refrigerators, washers and dryers, and plumbing get more of a workout than in a standard home.

“That many people in a house is a strain on your plumbing system, so we’re always clearing clogs or snaking lines,” John said. “A lot of these residents haven’t experienced convenience in a while. They’ve been homeless or squatted for so long, so it’s a big thing to know you can take a shower and the hot water will be there or the lights will turn on when you flip the switch. A lot of people don’t think about those things, but to our residents, that’s a big deal.”

John relishes the opportunity to go into the homes and interact with those in the HIA program because he knows his testimony has a major influence on the residents he gets to care for and speak with.

“A lot of these residents know my story, that I was there too, so interacting with them is great. I don’t have to go into these homes, I get to."

If it hadn’t been for Hope is Alive and coming to this program,” he continued, “I probably wouldn’t even be alive. This program saved my life and gave me back something I lost decades ago, and now I have the opportunity to give back to others what HIA gave to me.”