Posted: 6/29/06
Groundbreaking for Belle Haven
By Joel Stottrup
Princeton is one of a small but growing number of rural Minnesota cities that will have the kind of housing complex that ground was broken for last Thursday.
Two and a half acres on the north side of First Street just west of the Highway 169 is the site of a planned drug post-treatment recovery facility called Belle Haven.
The groundbreaking ceremony was headed by Brenda Hoffman, executive director of the nonprofit Rum River Health Services (RRHS) in Princeton.
The project ended up costing $4.06 million, according to Hoffman. The 28,000 sq. ft. complex will have 16 townhome units plus one unit for a manager. Nine of the units will have three bedrooms, the others two.
The townhomes will each have an upstairs and a downstairs except for the handicapped unit that will all be on one floor.
Hoffman said about $75,000 is left to raise for the project that has a March 2007 target completion date.
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development gave a $500,500 grant for the project and there were many donations. Bremer Foundation, for example, put up a $50,000 grant to be given when all the money is raised. Hoffman, in her talk at the ceremony, said that 'people make mistakes . . . make poor decisions.'
She then talked about how chemical abuse has destroyed families and individuals. The community has to stop the 'revolving door' in which people, after going through chemical dependency treatment, slip back into an old lifestyle of abusing drugs again, she said.
She mentioned methamphetamine addiction as a particular problem in the greater Princeton area.
In order to complete treatment, recovering patients need a place to go, she said, where they are 'in the same boat' as other people trying to stay on a lifestyle of no chemical abuse.
One of the people attending the ceremony was Lois Mueller, with RS Eden, the nonprofit organization that is a consultant for the Belle Haven project. Mueller said this is the sixth such project for RS Eden.
RRHS board director Peter Jensen, a doctor at Fairview Northland in Princeton, was asked before the ceremony why he thinks Belle Haven is a good idea.
It will provide a 'proper living space' for families, including the children who are affected by what happens, Jensen said. 'We want children to grow up to be responsible citizens, to be healthy.'
Too often, people who are trying to recover from drug abuse are forced because of the housing available, to go back into a 'drug situation,' Jensen added.
People who stay at Belle Haven are expected to pay a subsidized rent. Although the length of stay is not fixed, it customarily ends after a person becomes stabilized financially and otherwise, according to Hoffman.
Hoffman said residents of Belle Haven must be committed to a lifetime of sobriety after finishing primary drug treatment.
The community building that will be part of Belle Haven will have a large gathering room, children's play area, and an office space for case managers and child development specialists on staff.
Additional space will be for supportive services that include group and individual counseling, parenting education, family financial management, vocational rehab, legal assistance, public health and social services as needed.
Jeff Larson, director of chemical health programs, and Sue Peterson, case manager for the women's recovery program, both at RRHS, agree that these services will help produce positive outcomes for persons who have gone through chemical dependency treatment.
Princeton Union-Eagle
P.O. Box 278
Princeton, MN 55371
Telephone: 763-389-1222
Fax: 763-389-1728