Two recommendations from the Addiction Abatement Working Group to spend some of the town’s opioid addiction settlement funds on area programs met with Select Board approval at its Oct. 21 meeting. The board voted unanimously to increase its contribution to the Nashoba Opioid Abatement Collaborative and to approve a $10,000 mini grant to the Addiction Referral Center for sober housing rental assistance.
The abatement collaborative consists of seven towns served by the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health: Harvard, Littleton, Bolton, Shirley, Ayer, Pepperell, and Groton. Harvard, which received $620,000 (more than the other towns combined), was planning to contribute only half of its settlement funds, while the other six towns planned to contribute their full settlements. Littleton’s contribution, $393,000, exceeded Harvard’s by $83,000, so it asked Harvard to add the additional funds in the interest of fairness. Had the board voted against the increase, Littleton would have lowered its contribution to match Harvard’s. The increase brings the total funds available to the collaborative to just short of $1 million.
The working group also recommended the first of what it hopes will be many more mini grant proposals. This one, submitted by the Addiction Referral Center, a nonprofit based in Marlborough, will provide rental assistance for sober housing in Worcester and Middlesex counties. Tracey Gustafson, president of the center’s board of directors, explained that the program pays the first month’s rent for individuals with substance abuse issues who have completed detoxification and inpatient treatment and are looking to move into one of the sober houses in the area.
Gustafson told the Select Board sober housing requires an up-front payment of the first month’s rent, and it is not covered by insurance, including MassHealth. People coming out of treatment are typically short on funds and not yet working, she said, and a month’s rent can be anywhere from $800 to $1,200. Harvard’s contribution will provide the first month’s sober housing rent for 10 to 12 people. She assured the board the entire grant will be used for rent, not administrative costs for the center, which are covered by other funding.
Gustafson said the need for sober housing rental assistance is “unbelievable,” and the center has had to shrink the area that it serves because the demand outpaced grant availability. She added that Harvard is “more organized” than most of the towns in the area for distributing opioid settlement money, and that lack of organization has made it difficult to make formal requests in other towns. She mentioned only Marlborough and Hudson as other contributors to the program.
