This home at 300 Eustis St. in Roxbury will be renovated into two two-bedroom apartments for Latino families recovering from substance abuse. The project is being completed by Casa Esperanza, a Roxbury-based substance abuse treatment program for Latino men and women.

For people who’ve struggled with substance abuse and have sought treatment at a residential facility, returning home can be disastrous to their recovery.

“In many instances, they cannot go home again. The environment that they came from is not conducive to sobriety,” said Ricardo Quiroga, founder and executive director of Casa Esperanza, the state’s first bilingual residential substance abuse treatment program for Latino men and women.

That’s why Quiroga wants to offer a place where women and men who are trying to lead drug- and alcohol-free lives can turn. Quiroga’s Casa Esperanza is planning to develop Dunmore Place and Casa Familias Unidas in Roxbury, housing with support services for families who are on the road to recovery.

Once it is built, Dunmore Place, located at 8 Dunmore St., will provide six two- and three-bedroom subsidized apartments for women who have stayed sober for at least nine months and their children.

Dunmore Place will include an office with a case manager or counselor who will encourage residents to attend meetings and help with any family or psychological issues that arise. Casa Esperanza, which in English translates into House of Hope, has already raised the $1.24 million – through public and private donations and two loans – that will be needed for the project.

The Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development, which has a history of creating affordable housing and programs for low-income women and their families, was selected as the development consultants for Dunmore Place and Casa Familias Unidas.

Rose White, a project manager at the Women’s Institute, said the director of the women’s program at Casa Esperanza approached the group about three years ago for help to begin the Dunmore Place project. Casa Esperanza put the project on hold to work on its strategic planning. In 1999, the institute was pulled back into the project, White said.

The Women’s Institute is currently seeking bids from construction companies for Dunmore Place. Quiroga said he hopes a contractor is chosen by October and the facility opens its doors by next summer.

‘Supportive Environment’
According to Quiroga, Casa Esperanza is the only program in the state to offer treatment services to Latino women and their children. The program, which is based in Roxbury and funded by the state Department of Public Health and public and private grants, can accommodate up to 20 women and 12 children. It also offers services to at least 25 male residents.

In addition to Dunmore Place, Casa Esperanza is currently trying to raise all of the $2.6 million that is needed to develop Casa Familias Unidas, which will comprise 11 units at 279, 290 and 300 Eustis St. in Roxbury. Quiroga said only 30 percent of the money has been raised so far, including $330,000 that the Boston Department of Neighborhood Development set aside for the project last month.

The development of Casa Familias Unidas includes the renovation of two two-bedroom apartments for families at 300 Eustis St. and construction of a center at 279 Eustis St. that will offer job and computer training, outpatient medical care, counseling and other support services. On top of the center, two three-bedroom units for intact families will be added.

The project also will include the construction of seven single-room units for men at 290 Eustis St., near the eight single-room units for men that were created by Casa Esperanza in 1999.

While Dunmore Place and the multi-room units of Casa Familias Unidas can be considered permanent housing, Quiroga hopes that residents will view the housing as transitional.

“Our goal is not for them to have supportive services all the time,” he said. “After a year or two, we would encourage them to find other housing … The trick is for them to gain time in sobriety in a supportive environment.”

Both projects have been designed by Watermulder Andrews Architects, a two-person firm in Boston. Architect Frances F. Andrews said the firm has worked with and designed projects for several community nonprofit groups, including Casa Myrna Vazquez, which operates a Boston-based shelter for battered women and their children.

Recently, the firm did a complete rehabilitation of transitional housing for battered women in Cambridge.

Andrews is a member of the Boston Society of Architects’ task force to end homelessness and when Casa Esperanza approached the task force’s chairman for help, the chairman turned to Andrews.

“Our goal is to work with community nonprofits,” said Andrews, who along with partner Sally Watermulder used to work at large architectural firms.