Episode 59 | The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd | EXPOSING THE TURKEYS: South Carolina Recovery Housing ExploitationEpisode 59 | The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd | EXPOSING THE TURKEYS: South Carolina Recovery Housing Exploitation
The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast by Freedom Recovery Services of Greenville
Kyle shares detailed experiences of exploitative recovery housing, work camps and unsafe living conditions in South Carolina, contrasted with his later stability in structured sober living. Mike Todd and Todd use his story to question how recovery housing is run and who is truly being helped.
1:20:57•10 Dec 2021
Frozen Chicken, Bed Bugs and Sobriety: Kyle’s Fight Through Recovery Housing in South Carolina
Episode Overview
- Unregulated recovery houses can pressure people into immediate 12-hour work shifts instead of offering safe medical detox.
- Some "working man’s" recovery homes control residents’ income by cashing their pay and returning only a small amount of cash.
- Poor living conditions such as bed bugs, broken bathrooms, frozen food and inflated prices for basics can strip people of dignity while they’re trying to get well.
- Structured, accountable sober living with food, a kitchen, meetings and genuine support can give people without insurance a realistic chance at recovery.
- Efforts to certify recovery housing need to consider where people with no money or family support will go if unsafe homes are closed.
“"Best thing you can do is go grab your blanket and your pillow… go lay on top of them" – advice Kyle was given about sleeping on picnic tables in December.”
How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober when they’ve got no money, no insurance and hardly any options? This conversation follows Kyle, a former resident of Freedom Recovery Center, as he talks through exactly that – and it isn’t pretty. Mike Todd and co-host Todd set a loose, chatty tone, but the stories are anything but light.
Kyle explains how he arrived in South Carolina broke, desperate and searching online for help, only to be pulled into unregulated "working man’s recovery" houses. He shares how, still shaking from alcohol, he was told on arrival, "You got a ticket tonight" for a 12-hour shift instead of time to detox.
As Mike bluntly puts it, "His detox was a 12-hour shift." You’ll hear about frozen chicken no one can properly cook, being charged 75 cents for a plastic fork, and staff suggesting he sleep outside in December: "Best thing you can do is go grab your blanket and your pillow… go lay on top of them" – meaning the picnic tables. Bed bugs, busted plumbing, and paycheck-signover schemes paint a clear picture of recovery housing exploitation.
The episode also tracks Kyle’s return to Freedom Recovery Center, where basic dignity – a kitchen, food, structure, and genuine accountability – gave him a fighting chance. With over two years alcohol-free, he reflects on how consistent support and firm boundaries (especially from house manager Heath) helped him rebuild family relationships and stability.
Alongside Kyle’s story, Mike and Todd raise serious questions about South Carolina’s attempt to introduce voluntary certification for recovery homes and what happens to people like Kyle if unsafe houses are shut down without real alternatives. If you’re in recovery, working in housing, or just wondering what “recovery housing” can actually look like on the ground, this conversation might leave you asking: are we really giving everyone a fair chance to get well?
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