Another piece of Utah’s battle against addiction and homelessness opens its doors — this time in the suburbs

Murray • Last year, Lanny Outcalt was homeless.

He was in active addiction and was living in an encampment off North Temple in downtown Salt Lake City. He didn’t have a lot of hope for the future, but said he decided that he needed to do something to change his circumstances, so he joined the Odyssey House residential treatment program in August 2024

A year later, Outcalt is off the streets and in a sober living home. On Wednesday, he helped Odyssey House celebrate the opening of Anchor Point, its new sober home in Murray.

“It’s an incredible thing to see houses like this open up; they’re needed,” Outcalt said. “The transition from residential to outpatient treatment in sober living can be difficult… If we didn’t have houses like this, our option would be going back to the streets, which is not a good option.”

The 20-bed complex will fill up over the next month with graduates from Odyssey House’s residential treatment program, spokesperson Randall Carlisle said. The complex was established with partial funding from the state and Salt Lake County using opioid settlement dollars this spring, according to a news release.

“The opposite of addiction is connection, right?” Outcalt said. “... The recovery community provides connections for people. Odyssey House was part of that, and it’s helped me find different outlets to help keep me safe, to help keep me in recovery.”

Salt Lake County houses over 1,000 people a year in facilities like these, county Behavioral Health Director Tim Whalen said, and aims to invest more in solutions like Anchor Point through its Human Services, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Action Plan.

But right now, not everyone in recovery can find a spot in a sober living house in the area, so there is a waiting list, Whalen added.

“The success rate for long-term recovery is much better when you use a step-down process, as opposed to just getting right out of residential care [or jail],” Carlisle said. “... They’re learning how to find jobs, how to express their frustrations with other people in the group, and learning to live on their own so they’ll be less likely to either re-offend or relapse when they go through a step-down process like this.”