Sober Living Vs Halfway House: Similar, But Not Synonyms

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Who Needs Supportive Housing?

You may decide to live in a halfway house or sober living home for several reasons, such as:

You’re not ready to transition back into the home you were in before you completed addiction treatment.
Your home environment is a detriment to your recovery, especially if you live with family members who misuse alcohol.
You’ve experienced consistent stress, mental illnesses, or other challenges in your home that could trigger a relapse.
Your home feels like an environmental trigger for potential relapse.

Another reason you may decide to move into a sober living home is that you’re seeking an alternative to residential treatment. Sober living homes provide moderate structure. Many people in sober living homes attend intensive outpatient treatment (IOP) or receive other outpatient addiction services.

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Halfway Houses

A halfway house is a living arrangement for individuals who were previously in full-care facilities. Generally, people who live in halfway houses are transitioning from residential addiction or mental health treatment, or they may have served time in prison and are reintegrating into a life of independence.

A halfway house may host a specific population, such as survivors of intimate partner violence or people who have previously experienced homelessness.

Costs and Funding

The government provides partial funding for halfway houses through grants, generally at the state level. Halfway houses typically receive government grants when they have a nonprofit or faith-based status.

Residents of a halfway house are required to pay a portion of their income toward their rent. The costs of halfway houses vary depending on the number of services and the degree of privacy offered.

Residents provide their own food and toiletries, although staff in the house can help them apply for government funding where needed. For instance, they may apply to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Living Arrangements Within the Home

In a halfway house, living arrangements vary widely depending on the house type. For example, the halfway house might be like a dormitory. In this setup, you share a single living space with multiple individuals, with bunk-bedding or multiple beds set up in a single room.

Alternately, some halfway houses have smaller rooms that you share with roommates. The size of the home determines the number of housemates you’ll have.

Professional Services Within the Home

Varying levels of professional staff work in halfway houses. Some halfway houses offer clinical services, such as grief counseling, as part of their program. Others have life skills training provided by social workers and other behavioral health staff.

Length of Stay

A halfway house is not intended to be a permanent residence. It’s intended to be a support, with the goal of a full integration back into your independent life. The length of stay in halfway houses ranges from a few months to a couple of years.

Rules and Requirements of Tenancy

The rules of a halfway house are intended to create grounding, practice, rhythm, and responsibility around life tasks, such as paying bills and completing chores.

The rules are also intended to support the safety and sobriety of residents living in the home and may include:

Sobriety: Residents in halfway houses are required to be abstinent from substances and may participate in random drug and alcohol testing. A positive test may result in you being asked to vacate the home.
Drug– and alcohol-free property: No illicit substances or paraphernalia are allowed in halfway houses.
Curfew: Most halfway houses have set curfews.
Employment: A halfway house may require you to maintain employment, with a portion of your income applied to rent. If you do not yet have a job or you’ve lost a job, house staff may set specific expectations based on job training, scheduling interviews, or submitting applications.
Conduct: Conduct regulations generally include rules about verbal and physical fighting, as well as honesty infractions such as using or taking others’ belongings.
Meeting attendance: If house meetings are held, you may be required to attend. Many halfway houses also encourage or require attendance at 12-step meetings. Some suggest or require that you work with an AA sponsor.

Sober Living Homes

Sober living homes differ from halfway houses in several ways.

Costs and Funding

Sober living homes are paid for by the individual residing in the home. Insurance rarely pays for sober living homes. However, it’s worth checking with your insurance provider to see if they might cover this cost.

Sober living homes are also not state-sponsored. You may qualify for a scholarship or grant funding provided by nonprofit organizations.

Some specific sober living homes have scholarships and grants available. However, most individuals pay out of pocket and are employed to support the cost of the rent.

Sober living homes tend to follow one of two models:

A treatment center may own sober living homes privately as an aftercare option to support your stepdown from residential care to an intensive outpatient program (IOP).
- A benefit of living in a home associated with your residential treatment center is that you can follow the same model of care in both your residential and IOP services.
The second business model of sober living homes involves private, for-profit ownership.
- These sober living homes may be available to anyone who needs supportive housing in addiction recovery, regardless of their most recent treatment.

Living Arrangements Within the Home

Sober living homes offer roommate options as well as private rooms. These homes tend to have more options for privacy because of their independent business model. However, this is dependent on the specific home you choose. Typically, a sober living home has fewer than 10 residents.

Professional Service Within the Home

Sober living homes rarely offer professional services within the home. Instead, most residents will stay in one while attending IOP or outpatient treatment.

If a treatment center owns a sober living home, the treatment center may hire staff in the home, but this is rarely a clinical staff member. Instead, this staff monitors compliance with rules and may transport residents to treatment, work, or the grocery store.

If the home is independently owned, a house manager usually lives in the house. This manager is often in sobriety themselves, is a tenant of the home, and serves as a point of accountability and support when needed. Sober living staff may help connect residents with services such as educational and career training.

Length of Stay

The length of stay at a sober living home varies depending on your intentions moving forward. For example, if your sober living home is associated with your treatment center, you may live in this home until you are ready to step down in treatment.

Alternatively, you may decide to stay in this home for a longer time as you continue in outpatient treatment and continue integrating into your new life of sobriety.

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Rules and Requirements of Tenancy

The rules and requirements of a sober living home are similar to those of a halfway house. These rules include:

Regular random drug and alcohol testing
Maintaining sobriety
No drugs or alcohol on the premises
Completing household chores or assignments
Fulfilling attendance expectations, such as a set number of AA meetings

Additionally, a sober living home may require you to be employed, actively seeking employment, or attending educational advancement. You will likely have a curfew in a sober living home. However, these curfews are generally individual-specific, dependent on where you are in recovery.

You are required to be civil with housemates and supply your food and toiletries.

Sober Living VS a Halfway House: What’s Right for You?

Living in a sober living home may help generate relationships of sobriety with like-minded individuals who can relate to the struggles and triumphs in a life of recovery.

Sober living homes can be an excellent and underused modality in treatment. This is especially true if you take advantage of all the resources offered to you, as well as the connections provided.

For example, residents of sober living homes who are active in 12-step programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, often have better recovery outcomes.

Finding the Right Supportive Housing

It’s important to be aware of the risks you may encounter in a sober living environment. Although halfway houses and sober living homes both support sobriety, you may encounter individuals who bring contraband to the premises, such as drugs, alcohol, or other illegal items.

The benefit of a sober living home or halfway house is that the rules of living in these homes support accountability and consequences if this occurs, such as eviction from the home.

Another risk to these communities is the history of issues with regulation and oversight. There is generally more oversight in halfway houses due to the state funding received.

Sober living homes are not licensed by the state or state-funded. However, the National Alliance of Recovery Residences (NARR) provides a Standards and Certification Program that allows state affiliates to provide accreditation of sober living residences based on national standards.

Learn More: Sober Living VS a Halfway House

It is helpful to explore the reputation of a sober living home before moving in. Take the time to check out ratings and reviews from residents who have lived in the home.

When possible, interview residents and house managers. When researching a new home environment, check in with your intuition and speak with your clinical team and treatment specialists to explore safe and supportive living options.

The right sober living environment can support your recovery in countless ways. To speak with someone about addiction treatment, call 800-948-8417 Sponsored today.