County opioid-abatement funds used to expand sober-living apartments; Cadence thanks commission for $500,000

Brad Franks, senior director of operations for Cadence, addressed the Hamilton County Commission on April 16, 2025, to thank commissioners for allocating $500,000 of opioid-abatement settlement funds to Cadence’s sober-living apartments.

Franks said Cadence currently operates 24 sober-living apartments and is adding 16 more through the settlement funds. He described the program as offering safe, affordable housing, daily counseling and accountability through drug and alcohol testing. Franks said the apartments support transitions after 90-day residential programs and that residents may stay a year to two years as they rebuild employment and housing stability.

Greg Phillips, a former client who said he now works as a navigator in hospitals, told commissioners the apartments were "instrumental" to his recovery and allowed him to stay in a sober environment with counselors and accountability testing. "It was really a turning point for me in my life," Phillips said.

Commissioners responded with thanks and praise for the program and for Phillips’s testimony; several commissioners noted attending Cadence’s recent groundbreaking. The transcript records no vote during the presentation. Franks said Cadence would spend the allocated funds on the sober-living expansion and that the organization would steward county dollars carefully.

The presentation reiterated that Cadence’s services are intended to address opioid and other substance-use disorders by combining housing with treatment and peer support. No formal motion or vote on additional funding took place during the meeting; the allocation referenced by Franks was presented as an action already made by the county.