Hey, I'm Scott Jones and I've been living in Oxford House for four years now. I found Oxford House at a time when I was struggling with substance abuse and in danger of being homeless. Oxford House's model gave me solid footing for getting my life back together while providing me the freedom and autonomy I needed to truly thrive in a recovery environment. If I had been forced to live under the strict regulations and staff oversight present in many other recovery house systems, I probably would have given up on my recovery journey. I have also witnessed firsthand the successes of other members of my house and other houses in the Richmond area that can be directly attributed to Oxford House's autonomous, peer-operated format. As peers in recovery, we are able to empathize with and support each other in ways that non-alcoholics/non-addicts would never understand. We have always done all of this without in-house staff managing us. Without Oxford House's very successful model, many of us would have failed or even died. I strongly urge DBHDS to leave this very functional model to work as it has for decades--independently and democratically run by peers in recovery. I also ask DBHDS to clarify if Oxford House members are considered "operators" or not.