By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

A newly formed housing organization is working to open a GLBT-specific halfway house for community members who are in recovery from drug or alcohol abuse.

Living With Pride has recently acquired tax-exempt status and hopes to have a facility opened by summer 2008, according to its board president, Claudia Mosier.

“There are no GLBT-specific halfway houses in the city of Chicago,” said Mosier.

“There are certainly good halfway houses here,” Mosier said, “but we find that GLBT residents sometimes have to deal with the prejudices of other residents. And when prejudices are involved, they decide that they need to be in the closet.”

Mosier said she’s particularly concerned about making sure that trans individuals in recovery have someplace to go.

“For transgender folks, they often have to be willing to dress in the gender that they were born in or else remain deeply closeted,” she said.

She added that housing facilities for GLBTs are often tied into HIV funding, so HIV-positive individuals in recovery sometimes have more housing options than HIV-negative ones. Mosier said Living With Pride’s facility will be open to GLBTs regardless of HIV status.

According to Mosier, the project is still in its early stages and the Living With Pride board is concentrating mostly on raising money.

“Halfway houses run the gamut in terms of quality of services. We intend to be a premier service provider. But that’s going to cost more than many patients will probably be able to pay,” she said.

The Rev. Stan Sloan, CEO of Chicago House and Social Services Agency, said there is definitely a need for such a facility in Chicago.

“Affordable housing in the city of Chicago is obviously a huge need,” Sloan said, adding that the need for GLBTs to have a place to go for recovery “is particularly huge.”

He said that the dynamic within a halfway house often is “a fragile state of support. The help (GLBTs) can offer each other in that environment would be invaluable.”

For information on Living With Pride, visit www.livingwithpride.com or call (773) 972-2405.