“When I spent some time in downtown Los Angeles, I was astonished by the degree and severity of homelessness in our community,” says Brand, “it’s astonishing that we’ve learned to acclimate to this extreme condition of people who are the same as us being cast aside.”
Freehab already has two satellite locations in Hollywood and Skid Row, and they plan to accommodate about 200 people when they open the new center this fall. Councilman Richard Alarcon praised Brand’s efforts, especially after the loss of People in Progress. “[The closure] came as a shock and it created a gap in resources,” he says. So when Brand approached the councilman about running his own treatment program, Alarcon suggested using some money which was originally allocated to a different project.
The council voted 12-0 to approve the funding yesterday. Brand, now ten years clean, has been extremely vocal about his own battles with addiction. He has become a powerful advocate for the addiction and recovery community, and continues to express his belief that addicts, like himself, who were once a “terrible detriment to society” are capable of change.
Source: www.thefix.com
