The Mountaineer Recovery Village, a sober-living housing development being built in the Eastern Panhandle, is getting extra funding from Congress to help get it off the ground.
The development is part of Mountaineer Recovery Center, a substance use treatment campus in Kearneysville. The project will provide patients with housing and transportation after treatment to help them re-enter the workforce.
The funding comes after a Congressionally directed spending request made by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito last year, and will see $1.5 million go towards the development.
“This will help members new to recovery reintegrate back into the workforce in a healthy living environment and reconnect with their families and help break the patterns of relapse,” Mountaineer Recovery Center CEO Jonathan Hartiens said in a statement announcing the funding.
In an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Hartiens said the funding will specifically go towards infrastructure for the community, including water and sewer utilities.
“The funding is important because many grants offer funding for personnel and services, but very few offer funding for construction or infrastructure,” Hartiens said. “This project could not be completed without these funds to provide the infrastructure for the village since grants do not provide funding for these kinds of costs."
The project officially broke ground last October during an official ceremony. It’s in the middle of its first phase of development, which will see three houses supporting 30 residents that are expected to be fully built by July 1. The community is set to house around 200 families when completed.