By next fall, the North Country will have a new residential drug treatment facility offering 32 beds. Construction is expected to start next month.
The Friendship House in Bethlehem is the only residential drug treatment facility north of Franklin. But the building is in disrepair – it’s offered anywhere from 30 beds to, at times, just 18.
This week The Friendship House was awarded a $1.45 million grant from the state to help build an entirely new facility.
Mike Claflin heads Affordable Housing Education and Development or AHEAD, which owns the Friendship House. He says people in the North Country need the services.
“There’s no place for anyone to go – they’re either left on the streets homeless or they go to jail," Claflin said.
The state also awarded Harbor Homes a million dollars for a new facility offering 55 recovery beds in Nashua.
Currently there are 15 state licensed residential drug treatment facilities in New Hampshire offering about 450 beds.
