Miami Shores is one of those places people drive through on Biscayne Boulevard without realizing they’ve entered a different town. The traffic thins, the lots get bigger, the streets fill with royal palms and old Mediterranean houses, and for a mile or two the noise of Miami drops away. It’s a village in the formal sense: the Village of Miami Shores has its own government, its own police department and its own library, and it has kept a residential, tree-lined character since it was incorporated in 1932.
For a man coming out of treatment, or a family trying to find him a safe place to land, that character matters. Early recovery goes better somewhere calm, with structure close at hand and fewer of the triggers that come with a nightlife district. This guide is about men’s sober living in and around Miami Shores: what the village is like, what to look for in a house, how to get around, and where The Foundry’s two houses sit in relation to it. It’s the first part of a five-part series; the other parts are linked in the series box at the end.
One thing to be clear about up front: The Foundry does not have a house inside Miami Shores. Our Lakehouse is in North Miami Beach, a short drive north up Biscayne Boulevard, and our Beachhouse is on the Intracoastal in Hollywood. Plenty of men who search for sober living in Miami Shores are really looking for the kind of setting the village represents: quiet, residential, close to the water and close to Miami. That is what this guide is built around.
Miami Shores at a glance
The village sits in northeastern Miami-Dade County, between the City of Miami to the south and Biscayne Park to the north, with Biscayne Bay on its eastern edge. It covers a little under four square miles including water, and the 2020 census counted about 11,500 residents. The two commercial spines are NE 2nd Avenue, which forms a small downtown, and Biscayne Boulevard along the east side. Barry University’s main campus is in the village, as is Miami Country Day School.
Practically, that adds up to a quiet, mostly residential place where the main activities are walking, tennis, golf, a few cafes and restaurants, the library and the bayfront. There isn’t a bar district in the way there is in parts of Miami Beach or Wynwood. For early recovery that is a feature, not a drawback.
Why the setting matters in early recovery
I’ve spent a long time around recovery housing, and the pattern is consistent. The first months after treatment are when a man is most exposed. The daily structure of a program is gone, the cravings and the old phone numbers haven’t, and he has a lot of unfilled hours. A good sober house fills that gap with accountability and company. A good neighborhood makes the house’s job easier.
What a recovery-friendly neighborhood tends to have:
- Walkable, low-key streets where a man can clear his head on foot without passing a row of bars.
- Things to do that aren’t built around alcohol: parks, courts, a library, the water, a gym.
- Meetings within reach. Northeast Miami-Dade has a dense schedule of AA and NA meetings.
- Work nearby, or transit to it.
- Distance from old haunts, but not so far that family and outpatient care become hard to reach.
Miami Shores and the neighborhoods just north of it, North Miami, Biscayne Park and North Miami Beach, tick most of those boxes. That is a big part of why we chose to run a house in this corner of the county.
What to look for in a men’s sober house
Whatever neighborhood you settle on, the house itself matters more than the zip code. These are the questions I would ask of any sober living home near Miami Shores, including ours.
Is it certified?
Florida runs a voluntary certification system for recovery residences under section 397.487 of the Florida Statutes. The state’s designated credentialing body is the Florida Association of Recovery Residences (FARR), which reviews houses against standards based on the national NARR model. Certification isn’t legally required for every house, but it matters: licensed treatment providers in Florida are generally restricted in which residences they can refer patients to, and certification is a basic signal that someone outside the house has checked it. Ask to see the certificate, and check the FARR site yourself.
Are the rules written down and enforced?
Every serious house has rules: no alcohol or drugs, randomized drug testing, a curfew, chores, meeting attendance and a daytime commitment to work, school or an outpatient program. What separates houses is whether those rules are actually enforced, consistently and fairly. Ask what happens when someone breaks one. Our guide to sober living rules goes through the common ones and why they exist.
Who runs it?
Ask who is on site, who you call at 2 a.m., and who decides what happens after a relapse. At The Foundry, the houses are run by men in recovery who are active in the fellowship. That’s not the only good model, but you should know which model you’re walking into.
Is it men-only?
Both Foundry houses are men-only. Many men find it easier to be honest, and to focus, in a men’s house. We wrote about why in why men-only sober living works differently.
Will they tell you no?
A good house will tell you honestly if you need a different level of care first. Sober living is housing, not treatment. If someone still needs detox or clinical treatment, a responsible house says so, and helps point the way. You can search licensed providers at FindTreatment.gov.
Meetings near Miami Shores
Northeast Miami-Dade has meetings morning, noon and night, including clubhouse meetings a short drive from the village. Rather than list times that change, I’d point you to the official finders: AA’s meeting finder and NA’s meeting search. Our own roundup of AA and NA meetings in Miami explains how to find a home group. At The Foundry, the program is built around the twelve steps: residents attend meetings, get a sponsor and stay involved.
Getting around Miami Shores without a car
Most men arrive in sober living without a car, and many don’t have a license yet. The good news is that this part of Miami-Dade is reasonably well served:
- Biscayne Boulevard carries frequent Metrobus service north toward Aventura and south toward downtown Miami.
- Tri-Rail and Metrorail connect at stations west of the village, linking Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. See tri-rail.com.
- Cycling is realistic on the village’s quiet residential streets for much of the year.
Plan routes with Miami-Dade Transit. At The Foundry, residents get rides to appointments and meetings while they’re getting on their feet. Part three of this series, where is Miami Shores, Florida, goes into the geography and transit in more detail.
Work and daily structure
Structure is the backbone of sober living. At The Foundry, residents are expected to be working, in school, volunteering or in an outpatient program within their first couple of weeks. Around Miami Shores, the jobs men tend to find first are in restaurants, retail along Biscayne Boulevard, landscaping and maintenance, warehouses near the highways and service work at the larger employers in North Miami and Aventura. CareerSource South Florida runs free job-search help across the region. Our guide to jobs in early recovery covers how to approach the search and what to say about gaps on a resume.
Free and low-cost things to do
Idle time is the enemy early on. Miami Shores has more to fill it than its size suggests:
- Bayfront Park, between NE 94th and 97th Streets on the bay, with a walking path and water views. Open sunrise to 10 p.m., per the village.
- The tennis and pickleball center at 9701 Park Drive, and basketball and racquetball at the C. Lawton McCall Community Center. Check the village’s facilities and parks page for current access and fees.
- Brockway Memorial Library, the village’s own library, founded in 1949. Details at msvfl.gov/library.
- The NE 2nd Avenue downtown for coffee and a walk.
Part two of this series, things to do in Miami Shores without a drink, has a longer list.
What sober living near Miami Shores costs
I won’t quote numbers here, because they change and they depend on the room. What I can tell you is how to compare. Ask every house for its weekly or monthly rate by room type, exactly what that rate includes (utilities, linens, laundry, internet, transportation, food), whether there’s a deposit or move-in fee, and how drug testing is billed. At The Foundry, furnished rooms, utilities, linens, laundry and high-speed internet are included, sober living is private pay, and we tell you current rates on the first call. Scholarships exist for qualified men when cost is the only thing in the way. Our posts on the cost of sober living in Miami and whether insurance covers sober living go deeper.
Families: what to know
If you’re a parent, partner or sibling reading this, you probably have more questions than he does. Our guide for families covers the big ones. Part five of this series, a family visit to Miami Shores, covers where to stay and how to plan a visit that helps. For your own support, Al-Anon runs meetings across Miami-Dade.
Is Miami Shores a good place to live in recovery?
People ask me this directly, and the honest answer is that no place is safe or unsafe for recovery on its own. Recovery depends on what a man does every day. But environment makes the daily work easier or harder, and Miami Shores and the neighborhoods around it make it easier: residential streets, parks, water, a library, and meetings and transit nearby. Part four, is Miami Shores safe?, looks at that question carefully, including where to find official public-safety information.
The Foundry’s houses near Miami Shores
The Foundry runs two FARR-certified men’s sober living houses, both within a short drive of the village.
Foundry: Lakehouse is at 871 NE 182nd Terrace in North Miami Beach, roughly seven miles north of central Miami Shores. It’s a lakeside home with eight bedrooms and five bathrooms, canoes and kayaks, a hammock, a tree swing and a fire pit. It’s the closer of the two houses to the village and the natural choice for a man whose work, outpatient program or family is in northern Miami-Dade.
Foundry: Beachhouse is at 701 Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood, on the Intracoastal Waterway minutes from Hollywood Beach, with a rooftop terrace, a pool and a billiards room with a view of the water. It’s further north, in Broward County, and suits a man who wants a little more distance from Miami.
Both houses run the same program: no alcohol or drugs, randomized testing, curfew, meetings, chores, and the expectation of work, school or an outpatient program. Most men stay between three and twelve months. If you’re weighing the two, Hollywood or North Miami Beach? compares them side by side, and our North Miami Beach sober living guide covers the Lakehouse’s neighborhood in depth.
Next steps
If you’re looking for sober living near Miami Shores for yourself or someone you love, start with a phone call. Ask the hard questions above. Visit if you can; walk the house, look in the bedrooms and the fridge, and talk to a resident. You can reach The Foundry at (954) 817-7143 or through our admissions page. We don’t publish bed availability online because it changes week to week, so ask us what’s open now.
If anyone is in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 in an emergency.
Maps: Miami Shores to the Foundry houses
These routes start at the Miami Shores community center on Park Drive. Tap a button for live directions from wherever you are.
