Two pans of brownies sit on the counter while a ham bakes in the oven. Toasty rolls are piled in a basket and green beans are cooking. Andrea Robinson drains potatoes into a large pot ready to mash them.<\/p>\n
The occasion for the large meal is Haven House\u2019s weekly group dinner on Tuesday, and this week is Robinson\u2019s turn to cook. She admits to starting dinner prep a little late, but she\u2019s not fazed. It\u2019s just dinner after all, and she\u2019s got something bigger to be proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cNinety days clean and sober,\u201d Robinson said smiling.<\/p>\n
When Robinson finished treatment at Rainforest Recovery at the end of January, she didn\u2019t have anywhere to go. She set up an interview with Haven House and moved in.<\/p>\n
\u201cOtherwise, I\u2019d be on the street,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At Haven House, she has a safe place to go every night. She gets to see two of her kids on Fridays and they can spend the night with her. And for the first time, \u201cI can honestly say I have true friends in my life,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
She is one of nine people who have lived at Haven House since it started welcoming residents March 17, 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n Haven House is a faith-based recovery residence located at 3202 Malissa Drive in the Mendenhall Valley. It can house up to nine women at a time. The six who live there now have either just come out of prison, addiction treatment or mental health treatment.<\/p>\n Residents all go through an interview process to get in and must follow a set of rules to stay. No drinking or using drugs. Attend at least two support meetings a week, like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. Have a sponsor. Be home by 10 p.m. Attend group dinners on Tuesday and Thursday. Participate in house prayers. Do house chores. Attend weekly meetings with Haven House staff about individual action plans that lay out short- and long-term goals.<\/p>\n Besides the rules, the residents deal with the normal challenges of communal living, like not having as much privacy or quiet time as they might want. But those annoyances pale in comparison to something else they\u2019ve had to overcome.<\/p>\n When Haven House opened, it was surrounded by homes with signs outside that read, \u201cRight Idea, Wrong Place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou hear nine convicted felons moving into a family-style neighborhood, that\u2019s a concern for anybody,\u201d said Dustin Stogner.<\/p>\n As a renter, Stogner moved into the house directly across the street from the house that\u2019s now Haven House in April 2014 with his fianc\u00e9 and 6-month-old son.<\/p>\n \u201cMy concern wasn\u2019t necessarily for the individuals moving into the house,\u201d he said. \u201cOur concern was the people associated with those people \u2014 ex-boyfriends, drug dealers, drunk family members showing up at all hours of the day trying to see their loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n Many in the Tall Timber neighborhood had these concerns and others.<\/p>\n With the assistance of a lawyer, the Tall Timbers Neighborhood Association has been challenging the opening of Haven House<\/a>. When the Juneau Planning Commission issued the transitional home a conditional use permit<\/a>, the neighborhood association appealed the decision to the Juneau Assembly. When the Assembly backed the Planning Commission\u2019s decision<\/a>, the neighborhood association took its challenge to Juneau Superior Court, which hears administrative agency appeals. Just last month, Judge Louis Menendez heard oral arguments on the matter and has up to six months to issue a final decision.<\/p>\n Renter Stogner doesn\u2019t own property in the neighborhood and isn\u2019t part of the neighborhood association, yet he still initially had concerns.<\/p>\n But in the year since Haven House has been open, Stogner said he hasn\u2019t experienced any issues. He feels comfortable and safe. He said the Haven House residents are friendly, and he doesn\u2019t usually notice them.<\/p>\n \u201cOther than when they have meetings or potluck dinners and there\u2019s an influx of cars of people over there filling up their driveway, I don\u2019t think people even realize they\u2019re back there,\u201d Stogner said. \u201cI don\u2019t pay any more attention to them than I think they pay attention to us. Everyone is just back here to live.\u201d<\/p>\n Being a neighbor of the recovery residence for a year has changed Stogner\u2019s mind on the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we moved to another part of town and they proposed a Haven House set up the exact same way and handled by the same people, I wouldn\u2019t have a problem with it. I wouldn\u2019t blink an eye at it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Not everyone in the neighborhood agrees with Stogner.<\/p>\n For seven years, Shelly Lager has lived on Marilyn Avenue with her husband and three children. Their house is near Haven House.<\/p>\n \u201cWe bought a house in that neighborhood because it\u2019s a residential area. My husband and I were very particular about where we wanted to live,\u201d Lager said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have nothing against Haven House or any residents that live there. It\u2019s the increased traffic. Several days a week you can see six to nine cars parked there,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n In the last year, Lager has seen several smokers from Haven House pacing in front of her house and an increased amount of cigarette butts outside. She said there\u2019s been more law enforcement and emergency vehicles in the neighborhood, which makes her feel unsafe.<\/p>\n According to Juneau Police Department spokesman Lt. David Campbell, though, Haven House has not seen a lot of police activity in the past year. There were no reports called in about the house or from the house whatsoever in 2015. So far this year, there have been four. Two of those instances involved police remanding a person back to jail, one was a medical call due to the flu and the last call was a litter complaint from a neighbor.<\/p>\n