KENTUCKY TO EXPAND EFFORTS TO HELP SUBSTANCE ABUSERS

Aid For Homeless May Be Redirected

Kentucky is planning a dramatic expansion of residential recovery
programs for people with drug and alcohol problems by using federal
tax incentives generally used to build housing for the poor.

The plan is to build up to 12 centers around Kentucky to help as many
as 1,000 people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless
because of substance abuse.

To finance the centers, the Kentucky Housing Corp. has set aside
$2.5million a year in federal tax credits in 2005 and 2006 - part of
the state's allocation of about $20million a year in credits used to
spur construction of housing for the poor or homeless.

Advocates hailed the additional services but questioned whether the
plan will mean less money to build housing, a chronic need in
Kentucky. "We are hoping this is an effective program," said Jim King,
president of the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises in
Berea. "At the same time, it is troubling that it has to come at the
expense of other needy people." State Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, an
advocate of housing for the poor, yesterday criticized the plan as
"half-baked," saying it siphons off desperately needed resources to
build homes for low-income people. "You're robbing Peter to pay Paul,"
he said.

But Kim Lyon, spokeswoman for the housing corporation, which
administers the program, said the change is in keeping with a goal of
the federal program to reduce homelessness, since many chronic abusers
of drugs and alcohol are homeless. Operating funds for the centers
will come from about $3million in federal community development block
grants, and about $2million from the Justice Cabinet, she said.

The change will not cut into existing housing funds but would reduce
tax credits available for building low-income housing over the next
two years, Lyon said. "Any money we're putting in one place means
someone else isn't getting it," she said, but she added that the
housing corporation believes it's critical to help homeless people who
have substance-abuse problems. Low-cost models Services offered at the
centers will be modeled on low-cost recovery programs at Louisville's
Healing Place and Lexington's Hope Center, Lyon said. Those nonprofit
centers use recovering addicts as mentors and counselors. The state
does not have a specific timetable and has not identified any sites
but hopes to have two centers in each of Kentucky's six congressional
districts, she said.

Lyon said the plan is backed by housing corporation board chairman Don
Ball, a Lexington builder and philanthropist who is a donor and is
close to Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

Ball is a supporter of Lexington's Hope Center and recovery programs
are a "passion" of his, Lyon said.

Ball referred questions to housing corporation Chief Executive Officer
Ben Cook, who said more information will be available when Fletcher
announces the plan later this month.

The federal tax credits are available to developers who sell them to
investors and use the money to build or rehabilitate housing for
low-income people. The need is acute in Kentucky, advocates say.

The state has about 50,000 people a year considered homeless, said
Judy Levey, executive director of the Homeless and Housing Coalition
of Kentucky. King said his agency, which covers most of Eastern
Kentucky, has thousands of poor people in need of affordable housing.
Many double up with relatives or live in dilapidated dwellings with
poor - or no - heat and other utilities, he said.

Drug problem is 'huge' "There are people who are just flat-out
impoverished," he said. But some said the 12 recovery centers could
help eliminate a root cause of homelessness - addiction to drugs and
alcohol.

"Our substance-abuse problem is huge in Eastern Kentucky," said Gerry
Roll, executive director of Hazard-Perry County Community Ministries.
"We need a drug-treatment facility and if that is a way to do that,
it's wonderful." Spotting the needs The housing corporation has hired
Mike Townsend to run the program. Townsend, who directed
substance-abuse treatment for the state for 25 years before retiring
last year, said he believes the expansion could ease the acute need
for drug and alcohol treatment across Kentucky. "Most people will tell
you there's a definite need," Townsend said. "We just don't have
enough places for people to go to recover." The plan follows a
statewide review this year of illegal drug problems. Lt. Gov. Steve
Pence, a former federal prosecutor who is also state Justice
secretary, directed the review.

The study found that Kentucky has about 1,750 beds, public and
private, for substance-abuse treatment - or about one bed per 152
people in need. Pence has argued that the state needs more treatment
instead of incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders.

Relying on peers Louisville's Healing Place, which provided the model
for Lexington's Hope Center, costs about $25 a day per person, said
Healing Place President Jay Davidson. He said the Louisville program
serves 85 men and 35 women at a time and is built on the Alcoholics
Anonymous "Twelve-Step" method of accepting and recovering from addiction.

It relies mostly on "peers" - people who have experienced success in
the program - to train others.

The program also requires frequent attendance at meetings of
Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous, he said.

Turning points Kuria Njuguna, 32, a Healing Place resident working as
a "peer" teacher, said the center changed his life after he spent most
of his adult life abusing alcohol and drugs.

The program forced him to finally confront the severity of his
addiction, he said. "I realized I had a problem," he said. "I don't
think I realized how sick I was." Davidson said Healing Place has not
done detailed studies to measure its success, but surveys show
65percent of clients stay off drugs and alcohol a year after leaving
the center.

"People want to change," he said. "If they knew what to change, they'd
do it."