Recovery Residence Atlanta: Structured Homes for People in Recovery

A recovery residence is a shared home where everyone is working on recovery and everyone has agreed to the same standards. Smart Step operates structured recovery residences across metro Atlanta — for the people who live in them, and for the courts, hospitals, and programs who refer them.

Refer someone Apply for yourself

What a recovery residence in Atlanta provides

The term matters. “Recovery residence” is the name the field uses for structured, peer-supported housing that is not a hospital, not a recovery program, and not a correctional setting. Residents hold an occupancy license, live by written house standards, and are accountable to the people they live with. Smart Step is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that runs these homes with affordability and accountability at the center.

Written standards

Curfew, chores, meetings, and screening expectations are documented, explained at intake, and applied the same way to everyone.

Daily structure

Residents check in for curfew, log chores and meetings, and take part in house life. Structure is support, not surveillance.

Peer accountability

Everyone's recovery depends on everyone else respecting the rules — which is why the rules exist.

Connection to resources

Meetings, legal aid, food, employment, and crisis lines across Georgia, built into the resident app.

For courts, probation, and accountability programs

Referral partners need housing with real accountability and a way to confirm participation. Smart Step's program is built for that — with one hard rule: a coordinator sees nothing about a resident without that resident's active, dated, written release of information. Every court-portal view is recorded. Nothing is shared by default.

Refer directly through the referral form — attribution and consent are captured at intake.
With a signed release, coordinators see check-in participation, screening status, and reported incidents for their own participants only.
Compliance reports state the release they were produced under.
Immediate notification of qualifying incidents, when a release permits it.

For hospitals, VA, and recovery programs

A discharge plan that ends in a return to use isn't a plan. Smart Step coordinates directly with hospitals, veterans' services, and residential programs so the person leaving your care has a structured, sober place to land — and a house manager who is reachable. The resident app carries the Veterans Crisis Line, 988, and the Georgia Crisis & Access Line on every resident's phone.

Where Smart Step operates

Smart Step's home county is Gwinnett, and the program serves residents from across metro Atlanta — Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, Hall, Forsyth, Cherokee, Clayton, and Henry counties. County-by-county detail is on the Georgia page.

How a referral works

Submit the referral (or have the person apply directly). Intake reviews eligibility — record, medications, pets, children, county — and answers plainly.
If approved, a bed is held and move-in is scheduled: house tour, agreement signing, move-in fee.
The resident signs their occupancy agreement and house standards in the app; from move-in day they check in, log meetings, and stay accountable.
With the resident's release on file, you can see participation. Without one, you can't — by design.

Frequently asked questions

Is a recovery residence the same as a halfway house?

No. What people call a halfway house is usually tied to the criminal-justice system. A recovery residence is voluntary, peer-supported housing organized around recovery, and residents are licensees who agreed to house standards — not people serving a sentence.

Can a court see a resident's screening results?

Only with that resident's active, dated, written release naming the coordinator, and only for that resident. Every view is logged. Without a release, the portal shows nothing about the person.

Does Smart Step accept people on medication for opioid use disorder?

Medications are reviewed at intake as part of eligibility, and the program is direct about what it can accommodate. Ask the intake team — a person's medication status is never a reason to be left waiting for an answer.

What does it cost?

A weekly program fee and a one-time move-in fee, with a payment hardship policy for residents with limited income. Current figures are on the FAQ; ask about hardship at intake.