The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly approved an ordinance allowing the Central Peninsula Hospital’s purchase of a Soldotna facility that will be renovated into transitional housing for recovering addicts.
Bruce Richards with CPH says the request is for $395,000 which would be combined with grant funding to buy the two-story facility at 362 Tyee St in Soldotna, which currently houses office space, a workout gym, and racquetball courts.
Richards: “So that’s part of our Serenity House and behavior health department and it’s for people who would be transitioning out of Serenity House after they do their 30-day in-patient treatment at Serenity House. Many times when people are ready to leave and continue on in recovery in addition, a lot of them don’t have a safe place to go.”
The money approved by assembly will come from the CPGH Plant Replacement and Expansion Fund and will be combined with a $1.1 million grant received from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.
The proposal is to renovate the 11,062 square foot building into a 16-bed transitional housing facility.
Portions of the building, like the racquetball courts, not needed for living quarters will be leased out to help cover the facility’s operating costs.
In the Hospital’s proposed sustainability plan laid out for the assembly, it states that the operation of this facility will be impacted favorably by Medicaid Expansion because many patients are now eligible.
The plan states no additional staff will be needed to be hired and shows approximately $92,000 in costs annually with the potential for approximately $209,000 in annual revenues.