Phoenix House to close all Vermont locations; sell Dublin facility

Phoenix House New England will close all of its Vermont locations Tuesday, according to an official who cited financial issues. The not-for-profit behavioral health and addiction services provider also plans to sell its Dublin location in the near future.

President and CEO Peter Mumma said the decision to shutter Phoenix House's Vermont facilities — sober homes in Brattleboro and Burlington — stems from losing a grant from the Vermont Department of Corrections, which made up about half of the funding for the organization's transitional-housing programs in that state.

The department announced in July that its grant is now focused on individualized housing — like apartments — for formerly incarcerated people, rather than its previous focus on places like congregate sober-living sites.

"We had been subsidizing the [transitional- housing] program for a significantly long period of time and keeping them open as we felt they were essential for our mission," Mumma said. "But when the Department of Corrections changed their focus for funding ... we were really no longer in a position to stay [open]."

Read more: https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/phoenix-house-to-close-all-vermont-locations-sell-dublin-facility/article_b5e82bff-dc7f-5a02-b2d1-ede27378d7ea.html
(Keene Sentinel)