My name is Jessie and I live at Chimborazo Oxford house.Oxford Houses are democratically self-governing and self-supporting under the Oxford House system of operations. Since living in Oxford house I have become more independent and have improved mentally so much. I think most of us have been to enough programs and that this would make it feel more like a program which is against Oxford model. We have to learn to be productive members of society and we cannot do that in a program level. I have also had more support from my peers living in Oxford.
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,
Jessie F