DCCCA opens Hope Rising housing for women in recovery and children

DCCCA’s new Hope Rising community in Lawrence adds five duplexes for 15 to 20 people at a time, creating one of Douglas County’s few family-centered options for women in recovery who need housing with their children. The project, on the First Step at Lake View campus at 3011 W. 31st St., is tied directly to treatment and is meant to bridge the gap between residential care and permanent housing.

DCCCA opened the development Thursday, June 4, 2026, after construction began in March 2025. The $4.2 million project includes housing for women who are already in treatment at First Step at Lake View, where DCCCA also provides women’s residential substance-use treatment, non-medical detoxification, counseling and on-site childcare for pregnant and parenting clients. Residents can live with a child or with another woman in recovery, and most stays are expected to run from about six months to a year, with some flexibility depending on need.

The rent structure is built to help residents move toward independence. Women start at a low rate, then pay more gradually over time so they are better prepared to handle market rent when they leave. DCCCA said the model is designed to support stability at the moment when many families are most vulnerable to relapse, housing loss and separation.

Lori Alvarado, DCCCA’s CEO, said the idea had been a decade in the making and pointed to the shortage of safe housing for women recovering from substance use disorder while raising children. DCCCA said Hope Rising is the only transitional housing in Kansas connected to a treatment facility for women in recovery with children, a distinction that gives Douglas County a rare family-preservation resource at a time when homelessness and behavioral health needs continue to strain local systems.

The project also fits into Lawrence and Douglas County’s A Place for Everyone plan, which aims to reach functional zero by 2028. Public support came from the City of Lawrence, Douglas County and the State of Kansas. One contribution came through the city’s affordable housing trust fund, while another funding request was tied to Douglas County behavioral health sales-tax dollars; the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services also contributed. County voters approved that quarter-cent behavioral health sales tax in 2018.

The opening comes as county leaders keep looking for ways to reduce downstream public costs. A June 2026 county analysis estimated nearly $108,000 in public-service savings from a separate supportive-housing program for chronically homeless residents, a finding that gives added weight to family-based housing models like Hope Rising. The name itself came from women in DCCCA’s treatment program, who helped choose a label meant to reflect recovery, permanence and a path forward.