Doubled residential space critical for new Meta House project

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By MADELNE HEIM

USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

Meta House, which has served women in addiction recovery and their children in Milwaukee since the 1960s, will start seeing clients at its new campus in the city’s Piggsville neighborhood in May.

The development, dubbed Project Horizon, will double the nonprofit’s space for residential substance use disorder treatment, which leaders say is critical as they face a waitlist of more than 100 people for the 35 beds in their current Riverwest location.

“With the drugs that are on the street right now – particularly fentanyl – sometimes waiting even a few days can mean the difference between life and death,” said Sarah Koehn, Meta House’s director of philanthropy and marketing, said during a tour of the campus April 30.

Meta House will move its administrative offices and begin outpatient treatment at the new facility in May. The residential treatment space, which is still under construction, is expected to open by late August or early September, with 100 total beds for women and their children.

In addition to more room for residential treatment, the new center will offer on-site access to medical care, including medications for opioid use disorder; dental care; an art studio; and a fitness room. Once the new center is fully operating, the Riverwest location will close.

Plans for the expansion began in 2021. The $35 million project was funded by a mix of private philanthropy, a grant from UW-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health, and money Meta House received from Wisconsin’s share of opioid lawsuit settlement funds.

The site was formerly a parking lot for a Miller Brewing office building. Piggsville residents had questions about increased traffic to the neighborhood when Meta House began looking at the property, Koehn said. The organization attempted to address that in part by relocating its main entrance point.

Koehn said she’s hopeful the center being staffed 24/7 will bring a sense of security to the area.

When complete, the building will be accessible through a central hub where women will split off into outpatient or residential treatment. The building was designed with large windows accentuating natural light and will have substantial green space. That was an intentional move to promote the healing power of nature, said Angie Tabrizi, principal and founder of Moxie Development Collective, which works with nonprofit groups on developments.

There will also be parenting specialists and childcare on-site. The majority of Meta House’s clients are mothers to minors, Koehn said. Of those, about 30% have Child Protective Services involvement.

Meta House is somewhat unique in that many substance use treatment facilities do not allow clients’ children to live with them. Having to be separated from their children can discourage women from seeking treatment.

The expansion will result in a 20% increase statewide in the number of beds that treatment facilities accepting women and children offer, Koehn said.

Though overdose deaths are falling at the local, state and national level, there is still an urgent need for substance use disorder treatment, advocates say – particularly for pregnant and parenting women. The state’s plan for its latest round of opioid settlement funds includes $2 million for that population specifically.

Meta House served 331 women in 2024, according to its latest annual report, about 20% of whom were pregnant or postpartum. The average length of stay in its residential program is about 55 days.