House of Hope seeks opioid settlement funds

FALLS CITY – House of Hope advocates are asking Richardson County commissioners to dedicate funds from the $50 billion national opioid settlement to help break the cycle of addiction and arrest.

Pastor Jerry Yount said Tuesday’s meeting left him encouraged that a House of Hope will be part of the county’s solution.

Yount: “They recognize that there is a problem here in Richardson County caused by opioid and illicit drugs and that the problem is multifaceted. It’s a big problem and it comes at us from so many different directions. It can’t be solved without it being a multifaceted solution as well.”

Richardson County Sheriff Rick Hardesty told commissioners that the county, with a population of less than 8,000 people, has arrested 2,000 since he became sheriff in 2019. He estimates that 95 percent of those were somehow linked to drug use.

The House of Hope is envisioned to provide transitional housing for people moving from incarceration into the community. The house would provide an alternative to the drug culture and help against the stigma that exclude former inmates from getting jobs.

Pastor Gene Rowell of Shubert said the community is becoming increasingly aware of the need to find jobs for people released from jail.

Rowell: “The funds will of course help us to purchase property, but also we have to feed people and take care of them and help them with counseling and the other things. It has to help them with jobs.”

 

Richardson County has $12,600 in settlement funds now and expects allocations through the year 2038 to exceed $103,000.

Yount: “We have yet to get a House of Hope actually opened and that’s what we’re working on.”

The House of Hope advisory committee members and board member Jerry Duerfeldt said settlement funds over time are just what the transitional house needs.

Yount: “That’s one of the questions that came up when we were applying for ARPA funds. They were asking are you sustainable. ‘Well, no, we’re not sustainable. You know why? It’s sort of the like the rock on your roads out there. Is that sustainable?

"No, it’s not. You have to address it every year with taxes.

"This is the same thing. This is a societal problem that needs to be taken care of by society and that’s what we’re about.”

Hardesty said jailing people is an expensive way to deal with drug addiction.

Hardesty: “We have a crisis in our jail. We spent $60,000 the first five months of the new budget housing inmates someplace else. That’s just housing.”