It was a pattern that had become all too familiar to Terrence Sharrer.
The supervisor of Interfaith Sanctuary ’s Project Recovery, he was working with a resident in her early 60s who was addicted to alcohol. With the help of shelter staff members and programming, she got sober, left the shelter and moved into independent housing.
“She was high-functioning,” Sharrer said of the resident, a former nurse who’d worked for 45 years. But living on her own meant leaving behind the structure and supportive community at Interfaith. In isolation, she started drinking again, and ultimately “drank herself to death,” Sharrer told the Idaho Statesman by phone.
“The disease of addiction … got her,” he said. “And there wasn’t anybody there to help her.”
She wasn’t alone. Advocates from Interfaith say they’ve seen this happen five or six times in recent years. The advocates say some people moving out of homelessness aren’t yet ready to rent and live in an apartment on their own.
What they need, advocates say, is transitional supportive housing, an intermediate step. Such housing offers reduced-cost or occasionally free apartments temporarily, with counselors, case managers and other residents providing support and connection.