At a meeting of the Governor’s Opioid Overdose Prevention and Recovery Steering Committee, Jim O’Connor set out a clear record of the gap between the state’s approval of opioid settlement capital and the absence of a pathway to deploy it. Drawing on years of direct work with men facing addiction and housing instability, he described how stalled funding is limiting bed capacity, delaying shovel-ready recovery projects, and straining a system already under growing demand.
Executive Director, The Second Story Foundation and the 2nd Story Ranch Recovery Home and Jobs Program
Governor’s Opioid Overdose Prevention and Recovery Steering Committee Meeting
\u200bApril 23, 2026 at 2 p.m.
\u200bChicago, IL
Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to speak.
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\u200bMy name is Jim O’Connor, I’m a CADC and I represent The Second Story Foundation and the 2nd Story Ranch Recovery Home and Jobs Program.
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\u200bI want to begin by placing on the record a clear timeline of alignment between our work and the State’s stated priorities.
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\u200bIn July of 2023, the Illinois Opioid Remediation Advisory Board, through its Access and Equity Committee, reviewed recommendations that explicitly included capital infrastructure support for small and emerging organizations.
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\u200bLater that same month, the full IORAB voted to approve capital as an allowable use of opioid settlement funds.
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\u200bIn September of 2023, the Governor’s Steering Committee reviewed and voted on the Capital Improvement Construction and Mobile Units recommendation.
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\u200bThe vote was unanimous, no opposition and no abstention.
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\u200bOn January 4th, 2024, we introduced our project to then Director of Substance Use Prevention & Recovery. We described a residential recovery infrastructure model that includes a hybrid recovery community center, capable of hosting meals for up to 100 people, educational programming, mutual aid, and community events, alongside a residential recovery component housing up to 15 individuals, with a long-term vision of a full residential recovery campus.
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\u200bAt the center of this model is our farm and rural retreat, which serves as both the host site and the primary job site for the 2nd Story Ranch program, where each recovery resident has access to structured, on-site work and long-term recovery programming from day one, on a beautiful farm teaming with life.
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\u200bThe model itself is straightforward. Residents live rent-free in early recovery, receive work stipends, and participate in daily work across equine care, agriculture, landscaping, maintenance, and hospitality. As they stabilize, they transition into full employment and independent housing, exiting to market-rate leases without reliance on ongoing government subsidy.
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\u200bThis workforce program ensures all residents retain Medicaid coverage after leaving Substance Use Disorder treatment.
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\u200bIn follow-up discussions, we were told that while this model did not fit a traditional category, it most closely resembled an intensive support recovery home combined with a workforce program, and that it should be pursued as a capital request. We were also told that funding opportunities were being developed.
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\u200bLater in 2024, we submitted a Recommendation for Funding for programs to the State Opioid Response Administrator. We were denied consideration and we were told that our proposal would be considered supplanting, and again, that it was properly a capital request.
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\u200bSo we aligned ourselves fully with that direction.
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\u200bWe conducted a detailed review of prior DCEO capital projects to ensure we met the state’s standards for viability. As a result, we secured full site control, completed zoning and regulatory approvals, and advanced pre-construction architecture and engineering. To date we have raised over $2 million in non-state matching funds for our project. This is not conceptual, it is fully shovel-ready.
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\u200bWe raised over $1 million in private funding and completed the acquisition of a 68-acre working horse farm with over 50 horses.
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\u200bWe launched a recovery-oriented community service program within 60 days.
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\u200bWe initiated an equine-assisted healing program within 90 days.
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\u200bWe secured full zoning approval for a residential recovery campus with bipartisan support from the Will County Board.
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\u200bWe were granted $250,000 in Will County Opioid Settlement funding for pre-construction, which is now nearing completion, and an additional $500,000 in contingent capital funding through Will County Community Development.
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\u200bWe secured a commitment from the Will County Health Department to provide full medical, dental, vision, psychiatric, behavioral health, and medication-assisted treatment services for future residents.
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\u200bAnd this week we began our recovery workforce program in partnership with Joliet area recovery homes and the Recovery Community Center of Joliet’s ‘Day 29 Program.’
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\u200bAn independent economic analysis shows that a one-time capital investment in this project produces a 4-to-1 return by year three and a 9.25-to-1 return by year six, with compounding returns over decades.
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\u200bUnlike program funding, whose impact largely ends when the funding ends, this capital investment continues working, generating value, and producing outcomes for decades and across generations.
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\u200bThis is the difference between funding ongoing cost and building long-term system relief.
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\u200bAnd yet today, after more than two years of alignment with state guidance, we are being told that this project is comparable and duplicative of an existing capital strategy.
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\u200bTo be clear, there is no housing project in Illinois comparable to the 2nd Story Ranch Recovery Home and Jobs Program.
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\u200bWe are not comparable to, or duplicative of, Housing First, and we were explicitly told so by representatives of IHDA in multiple meetings.
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\u200bFurthermore, in this process I was asked to share suggestions for how IDHS can administer capital. We submitted a recommendation to use Community Development Financial Institutions as Capital Fiscal Intermediaries, this mechanism has been used by IDHS in the past. The recommendation was shelved and no other administrative mechanism has be developed.
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\u200bWhen IORAB approved capital as an allowable use in 2023, it did not limit that approval to a single housing model or administrative pathway. The current interpretation represents a narrowing of that approval that was not explicitly adopted by this board.
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\u200bTwo and a half years later, the absence of a clear pathway for recovery housing infrastructure and access to capital for “small and emerging organizations” suggests a gap between board intent and administrative execution.
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\u200bAt a certain point, complexity stops protecting the system and starts preventing it from working.
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\u200bWe have been engaged in this process for nearly 30 months, working with the Director of SUPR, the previous and current State Opioid Response Administrators, and DBHR.
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\u200bDuring that time, one division has been folded into another, and a new one has been created. State Opioid Response administrators have turned over. More than 10,000 Illinois residents have died from opioid-related causes. In that same time we developed a viable pathway from severe addiction and housing instability to full recovery and employment.
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\u200bWe have earned the right to be considered for access to approved capital as an approved abatement use.
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\u200bAnd if that pathway remains unclear, then that is an issue that should be addressed by the IORAB and leadership.
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\u200bWhat we are building is real. It is shovel-ready.
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\u200bThis capital project builds a comprehensive recovery community, structured, accountable, and dedicated to work, community connection, pathways to independence, and long-term outcomes. It is intentionally designed to produce change, resilience, and exits from dependency.
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\u200bAnd more than that, it is something rare:
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\u200bAn intentional community with common purpose, mutual support, shared daily life, and lifelong belonging.
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\u200bIt is organic.
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\u200bIt is joyful.
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\u200bAnd it is rooted in real human connection, community care, and love.
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\u200bThank you for your time and consideration.
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