MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Recovery residences, sometimes referred to as sober houses, are designed to support people recovering from a substance abuse disorder and Manitowoc has the most of them per capita in Wisconsin, according to the state registry.
Manitowoc also has the second most registered recovery residences overall in Wisconsin with 15, behind only Milwaukee’s 37.
Is that a good or bad thing? That question was part of an emotional Manitowoc common council hearing Monday night.
The homes act as a transition between addiction treatment and independent living.
The common council meeting was standing room only in the chambers, with people also watching on screens from two overflow rooms. One council member stating it was the largest showing he has ever seen at a meeting.
Most people at the meeting appeared to be there to support Lotus Recovery Homes, which was established in June 2021. Many stood up when asked for a show of people who had been helped at a recovery home.
“I fell off track when I left Lotus,” said Jonathon DeBauche of Manitowoc. “I stopped working the program that I was working when I was there. I fell off track.”
DeBauche recently relapsed at a recovery residence after being sober 16 months. He says his roommate went to the nearby Lotus Recovery Home to get a resident who was able to bring Narcan and was able to save DeBauche after five minutes of CPR.
“If it wasn’t for that resident of Lotus, I wouldn’t be here right now. My son wouldn’t have his father.”
DeBauche’s overdose was used in a campaign to try to prevent Lotus Recovery Home from receiving conditional use permits to continue operating two of its three transitional houses in Manitowoc. Lotus had been operating without the permits, citing an oversight under previous management.
“First, I apologize to Lotus,” said Jeff Patterson of Manitowoc.
Patterson admitted he passed out fliers incorrectly stating DeBauche’s overdose happened at the Lotus location on Marshall Street. However, Patterson and his neighbors said they remain opposed to the Lotus location on Lake Street, near their homes, despite their belief in recovery services.
“From our living room window, we have seen over and over again that the building that was once the home of the keepers of the lighthouse has turned into a magnet for the illegal drug trade,” said Karen Patterson, Jeff’s wife. “It has become the hub for the Chicago Street drug corridor from Kwik Trip to the lakefront.”
The neighbors claim Manitowoc is attracting addicts from outside the area because of the city’s high volume of recovery residences.
“Studies and experiences have shown that if a person who is working through recovery has a much much higher probability of success if they go into a sober living house like ours,” says Terry Bosch, the executive director of Lotus Recovery Homes.
Bosch says the number of those recovery homes is a good thing and shows the county is ahead of the curve in supporting recovery. Bosch says Lotus meets with the county once a week to ensure protocols are being followed.
“They keep meticulous records on every individual that is in recovery housing for the city, so there is strict oversight to that.”
The city council approved conditional use permits for both Lotus locations to continue operating as transitional housing.
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