Program manager Carol Trask leads a tour Thursday during an open house at the Bread of Life Ministries’ new ARTs House at 147 Riverside Drive in Augusta. Set to open in January, ARTs House is an eight-bed residence where homeless veterans with substance use disorder can live while receiving a variety of services and looking for permanent housing. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

AUGUSTA — Anyone can become addicted to substances, Ben DeMerchant said Thursday. But when it happens to a military veteran, it helps to talk to another veteran — someone who knows what many veterans go through.

“It’s nice to have people who know your story, even though you haven’t told them yet,” said DeMerchant, a Waterville Marine who’s been in recovery for 5 1/2 years, using services from Bread of Life Ministries to get on his feet before volunteering to help others. “For veterans, there’s a familiarity we all have that makes it easier for people to open up.”

Homeless veterans in central Maine will soon have just such a place to go. Bread of Life on Wednesday held an open house for ARTs House, an eight-bed facility at 147 Riverside Drive where officials hope veterans who are unhoused can live while they get help, both in finding permanent housing and with their addiction, and other issues that may be factors in them being homeless, all in the company of other veterans.

ARTs House, which stands for Addiction, Recovery and Trauma, is setup to feel like a home, with double-occupancy bedrooms and a large shared kitchen and living room, computer stations and work spaces. It is expected to open in January after finishing renovations are complete.

Veteran Ben DeMerchant of Waterville attends an open house Thursday at Bread of Life Ministries’ new ARTs House at 147 Riverside Drive in Augusta. He says veterans can help other veterans overcome issues, including substance use disorder. “It’s nice to have people who know your story, even though you haven’t told them yet,” DeMerchant, a Marine veteran who has been successful in recovery, says. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Laura Briggs, director of operations for Bread of Life, said if ARTs House could open tomorrow, its eight beds would be full, due to ongoing high demand for such services for homeless veterans.

Officials’ goal for the new program is to provide services that will help veterans address the root causes of their addiction, which are often also root causes of homelessness. Case managers will work directly with each client to develop a plan of care and resources to allow them to work to become self-sustainable and address the barriers they face so they can return to living and working on their own. Officials hope the facility will put veterans on a path for success, and break cycles of trauma and addiction.

“These folks have given so much to our nation, and ARTs House is our way to give back to them,” Jessica Wilbur, president of Bread of Life’s board of directors, said. “It will be a place where veterans can not only find shelter, but a pathway to healing, stability and renewal. ARTs House is more than a building, it’s a promise. A promise that we’ll stand for those who sacrificed for us, and we are here to help them build a brighter future.”

Bread of Life will contract with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs to provide services at ARTs House, much as it does with its veterans shelter on Hospital Street. It will be staffed 24 hours a day, and people staying there will be free to come and go, Briggs said.

The Augusta Planning Board voted unanimously in November 2023 to approve a conditional use permit for the facility to serve as a community-supported living facility with up to 16 beds.

Those plans have changed somewhat. Briggs said they now plan to build six efficiency apartments in the portion of the building not yet in use. She said those units will be supported-living apartments, somewhere veterans in recovery at ARTs House could move to as their recovery progresses. There are also two upstairs apartments, which are being rented out to veterans. Briggs said a typical stay in ARTs House will likely be 90-120 days, but that programming there will be tailored to each veteran’s individual needs.

Bread of Life Ministries’ new ARTs House at 147 Riverside Drive in Augusta is to provide housing and services to veterans who are homeless and suffering from substance use disorder. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Chip Eastman, an Army veteran, electrician, and electrical instructor at Capital Area Technical Center, has brought some of his technical center students to ARTs House to help with his work there, and he has volunteered to work on other Bread of Life facilities, as well. He said while he didn’t suffer from substance use disorder, he’s had veteran friends who did, and he saw programs like the one starting at ARTs House help them change their lives for the better.

Bread of Life Ministries has been a presence in Augusta for 40 years. It operates a 44-bed family homeless shelter and 14-bed veterans homeless shelter on Hospital Street, a soup kitchen on Water Street that serves about 120 people a day, and 100 housing units across the city.

Victoria Abbott, executive director of Bread of Life, said ARTs House is a natural extension of the group’s history and values.

“These folks will come in and have a holistic approach, to healing, on this journey,” Abbott said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for ARTs House. “That’s part of the holistic things we do at Bread of Life, to feed, to shelter, and empower people to change their lives.”