SCRANTON, Pa. — The Scranton zoning board voted twice unanimously last week to allow two different companies to move forward with plans for new, privately owned drug and alcohol treatment centers.
One will take over the former Harrison House Personal Care Home along Harrison Avenue and transform it into a women's transitional living facility.
The other would see the former Mountain View Care and Rehabilitation Center turned into a detox and residential substance abuse treatment facility.
Mountain View was shut down by the state back in June.
"It is absolutely needed in our city. I see a lot of people on the streets. I try to get some people off the streets and there's just not enough beds, treatment counselors, and thank God it's coming to our area here," Brian Kerrigan is the owner of Junken Monkeys Hauling company.
He is also 26 years sober.
"I was a heroin junkie, crack addict, and alcoholic for a long time, and in 1996, I got sober," said Kerrigan.
Kerrigan says the plans for these centers, especially the transitional living center for women, offer opportunities for people to change their lives—like he did.
"We do have a great recovering community in Lackawanna County," said Kerrigan. "They'll start getting to meetings, meeting new people, and finding that you can have a life without alcohol and drugs."
"Transitional housing for women is tremendous, the tremendous need for that. So really, all of the evidence supports the fact that the longer people can stay in structured treatment, transitional treatment, the better their chances are of sustained recovery," said Frank Bolock, the director of The Recovery Bank.
The organization helps adults struggling with addiction develop recovery and life skills. He's worked with other care centers like Avenues Recovery, the business that looks to purchase and convert the Mountain View property.
"We would, we would be looking forward to working with both facilities and their patients to kind of help them make that transition," said Bolock.
Both Bolock and Kerrigan are eager to see the projects move forward.
There is no word on when either location could open.