Hoping to quickly start the expected allocation $43 million in opioid settlement fundsBuckelew Programs and Gallaher Companies are proposing a series of substance abuse treatment centers and sober living homes in Sonoma County that could serve 400 people.

The project called Hope Residence in Sonoma County, much needed recovery opportunities It is in the midst of an opioid crisis that contributes to hundreds of accidental overdoses each year. Last year, 131 overdose deaths were reported in Sonoma County.

But the project is contingent on availability of up to $20 million in opioid settlement funds that Buckelew, a Novato-based nonprofit mental health and substance abuse services provider, hopes to receive from Sonoma County in the future.

Partners in the deal said the money would be covered by a $20 million low-interest loan from Gallaher’s Santa Rosa-based Poppy Bank.

Gallaher Companies’ construction arm will handle the entire development, from site acquisition to architectural planning, interior design and furnishings, and will see no profit, Buckelew Chief Executive Chris Kughn said. Buckelew would direct operations.

Kughn said advocates want to build 14 to 20 facilities to meet the needs of different communities around Sonoma County, but they may start with four or five initially.

So far, Sonoma County has banked only $12 million of its projected settlement dollars for the next 14 years. But Kughn said some of that would be enough to get started.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said in an interview. “This money will not come regularly. So let’s do something long-term for the society.”

“It’s exciting to think about doing something – actually doing something – that really makes a difference,” said Cindy Gallaher, co-founder of the Windsor-based company with her husband, Bill.

It’s unclear how soon county supervisors will be ready to decide how to spend the millions in settlement funds arriving between now and 2038. Although they are expected to consider an allocation process in January, this will need to be deliberate and competitive. County Executive Christina Rivera.

It would also have to meet usage restrictions set in a series of settlement agreements reached over the past three years as part of a nationwide effort to hold drug companies financially responsible for the scourge of opioid addiction.

Kughn said the partners in the bid understand the situation but are also willing to start talking about what permanent projects might be possible given the unexpected outcome.

“We think this will work,” he said. “Why don’t we give it a try and see, give us some money to get started and we’ll show you what we can do in a year. Start with $5 million and they can match that with $5 million from Poppy. “We are building 4, 5 houses with that money,” he said.

The project, if it moves forward, will expand the partnership resulting from the new agreement between Buckelew and Gallaher Companies. Athena House and Hope Village complex It opened last year in the Rincon Valley. The campus provides substance abuse treatment to women and non-binary individuals who can then transition to sober living for up to a year on the same property.

Kughn said this would address deep-seated gaps in treatment capacity and support the nation’s efforts to improve access to substance abuse treatment.

He said the Gallahers were inspired to make the proposal after learning about the county’s expected settlement funds in September.

The Gallahers watched. A workshop on September 24 At the meeting, county supervisors discussed potential uses of the funds, including their desire to provide permanent infrastructure resulting from them.

In the weeks since, as the company has created sample floor plans and drawings, representatives from the partnership have met with individual inspectors to let them know what they had in mind. Told they needed to push something, Kughn and longtime Athena House program director Sylvie De La Cruz attended the board’s regular meeting Tuesday during public participation to deliver clarifications of the plan.

“The need is dire,” Kughn told the board. “We don’t have enough treatment beds right now.”

“This has nothing to do with building,” he added. “This is about providing a lifeline to people in our communities.”

Outside the meeting, Gallaher noted that the houses could be built quickly once permits were obtained. The renovation and construction of the Athena House/Umut Village project took 3.5 months.

“Part of it is that we’re tired of waiting for things to happen, and the Gallahers are ready to take action. Poppy Bank is ready to support us, and Buckelew is ready to take on this operational challenge, so we can tell them what we think will work and give them a solution,” Kughn said. We decided.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or [email protected]. @MaryCallahanB on X (Twitter).