For recovery housing operators
Smart Step Inc. is a 501(c)(3) that operates recovery residences and works with other operators who hold the same standards. If you run a house — or you're building toward one — here is exactly how we work and what a partnership involves.
Who this page is for
Operators of structured recovery residences, house managers building out their first home, and organizations that run housing alongside a recovery program and want a documented operating backbone behind it.
If you own property and want it operated as a recovery residence, that is a different conversation with a different entity — see Property owners.
The standards we operate to
These are commitments about how a home runs, not outcome claims. We hold ourselves to them and we expect them of any operator we work with.
- Written house standards every resident receives, acknowledges, and can re-read at any time — no unwritten rules and no rules that change per person.
- A written occupancy agreement. Residents are licensees with clearly stated rights and a stated process before any exit.
- Documented, neutral intake criteria applied the same way to every applicant, consistent with fair housing and disability law.
- MAT-supportive policy on file. A resident is never excluded from a home for taking a lawfully prescribed medication.
- Drug screening on a written protocol: random selection, documented collection, documented result, and a documented response. Screening is for accountability and support — never for public shaming.
- Incident and violation logging with timestamps, so what happened is a record rather than a recollection.
- A written grievance process a resident can use without fear of losing their bed for using it.
- Program fees that are written down in advance, itemized, and never changed retroactively.
- Peer support and house meetings as the core of the day-to-day, with staff roles defined in writing.
- Consent before any information about a resident leaves the house — active, dated, written, and revocable.
Certification
What partnering with Smart Step offers
A referral pipeline you don't have to build
Documentation that survives scrutiny
Consent and access control handled
Operating support, not a franchise
How a referral flows
- A court, agency, recovery program, family member, or the person themselves submits a referral. The referrer confirms they hold a signed release before anything is shared.
- Intake review against written criteria — the same criteria for everyone, documented either way.
- Placement matching against current openings, including openings in partner homes. Time from referral to placement is measured from the moment the referral reaches us rather than from when we accept it, and we will publish it once there are enough placements for the figure to mean anything.
- Move-in: house standards acknowledged, occupancy agreement signed, program fee schedule explained in writing, first screening scheduled.
- Ongoing: curfew and chore check-in, random screening, meeting tracking, milestones, incident logging — all recorded as it happens.
- Reporting: consent-gated compliance views and documents for the referring coordinator, plus immediate notification of a violation to the assigned coordinator where consent is on file.
- Exit: planned or unplanned, documented either way, with the reason and the date recorded.
Placement time is a live example of our rule: we will tell you how a figure is defined before we have the figure, and we will not estimate one in the meantime. Ask us what we can show today — the honest answer is more useful to an operator than a number neither of us can stand behind.
Support you can expect from us
- A named point of contact for placements and escalations.
- Shared intake, screening, incident, and grievance templates you can adapt.
- Help preparing the documentation set that certification and public-agency partners ask for.
- Coordination with the referring court or agency so you are not the one chasing consent paperwork.
- Crisis escalation paths posted in the home and available to every resident.
What we ask of a partner operator
- The standards above, in writing, in your home.
- Timely, honest logging — including the incidents that don't flatter anyone.
- No exclusion of a resident for lawfully prescribed medication.
- No sharing of resident information without an active, dated written release.
- A written fee schedule, given to the resident before move-in.
- Willingness to be reviewed. If we refer someone to your home, we will ask how it went.
What we don't do
Smart Step provides housing and peer support. We are not a medical provider and we do not provide medical care, prescribe, or diagnose. We do not run detox. We do not guarantee a placement for any referral, and we do not accept a referral without a signed release from the person being referred.
We also don't publish outcome rates we haven't earned. When we have enough residents past a measurement window and a figure we can defend, we will publish the figure and the method together.
Common questions
Do I have to give up my brand or my governance?
Where do you operate?
How many homes are in the network?
What does a resident pay?
Is there a fee to be a partner operator?
Talk to us
The fastest way to find out whether this fits is a direct conversation about your home, your standards, and what you need.
Need help right now?
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — Call or text 988 · 24/7
- SAMHSA National Helpline — 1-800-662-4357 · free, confidential, 24/7
- 211 — Call 211 for local food, housing and utility help
If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. More crisis resources.