“I can’t just talk it. I have to live it”: the roles, needs, and recruitment of recovery home house managers

Introduction: Recovery homes are an increasingly important recovery support service for people with substance use disorders, yet limited research has examined the roles of house managers or how individuals are recruited into these positions. This study examines how house managers understand and enact their roles, how recovery home operators recruit for these positions, and how the demands and sustainability of the role are perceived in practice. Methods: We conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of interviews with 29 operators and staff working in 10 Level II and Level III recovery homes across five Texas cities. Results: Findings indicate that house managers leverage lived experience to support residents, enforce house rules, and cultivate recovery-oriented house cultures that emphasize mutual accountability, peer engagement, and resident self-regulation. Operators most often recruited house managers from among successful residents with stable recovery and familiarity with house norms, though participants described limitations to this approach and noted that the role is frequently experienced as demanding and transitional. Discussion: These findings underscore the central role of house managers in shaping recovery home culture and highlight the complexity of a position that combines peer support, leadership, and operational responsibility within social model recovery settings. The results emphasize key balancing factors related to recruitment pathways, training, role sustainability, and length of employment. By documenting how house managers and operators conceptualize the role as both critical, yet often transitional, this study advances understanding of workforce dynamics in Level II and Level III recovery homes and identifies priorities for implementation-focused research on training, support structures, and staffing models that sustain recovery-oriented environments over time.