My name is Luke Taylor and I live in Oxford House Orchid in Fredericksburg, VA.

Oxford Houses are run by the people who live there, they are self-governing and self-supporting, similar to that of a small local or tribal government; and everyone has a role. Issues are brought up at weekly meetings, the residents vote on each independent issue, and we also have our own treasurer to maintain our finances. 

This helps to get everyone involved and keeps our residents accountable for themselves and their peers. It gives a sense of pride in our Oxford House, which when you are going through recovery, that is something typically hard to find.

Being here at Oxford House has been the closest I have felt to getting back to a normal life than I have in a long time. We are learning, relearning, and/or refining life skills to make it back on our feet and assimilate seamlessly back into society.    

Having previously been in a recovery house with staffed management, I can attest that they do not encourage that type of growth, and in some instances even stifle it. Not every recovery home needs to be treated as a commercial business, these are real people who are doing their best to make it back. 

I support rules that keep people safe, but rules that require staff or assume every home is a commercial business would keep Oxford Houses from operating in Virginia, even though research shows our model gets the best results. Please change those rules, and please clarify whether house members are considered the operator.

Thank you.

-Luke Taylor, FMP