If it weren't for the House of Hope, Arik Morgan doubts she'd be the clean, sober mother and citizen she is today.

So the North Braddock woman and former crack addict says she is deeply distressed by the news that UPMC Braddock is shutting down the program as of Jan. 2, as a cost-saving measure -- at the same time the health care giant is planning a multimillion-dollar hospital in Monroeville.

House of Hope (which stands for honesty, openness, patience and effort) was designed to help chemically dependent, homeless pregnant women or new mothers through recovery. It also did one thing that no other program in the region does: It accepted methadone mothers right off the street with no clean time. Once it closes, there will be nothing comparable in Allegheny County.

Residents stayed for 90 days in a house across the street from the hospital. They received an array of services, including drug counseling, life skills and parenting classes. Their babies stayed with them, and other children were allowed to visit overnight.

The program took only five women at a time, and graduates say the intimate setting helped them succeed where they had failed in other programs. Funding came from Heritage Health Foundation, the charitable arm of UPMC Braddock.

"The goal is to reduce infant mortality through healthy pregnancy and delivery," Paula Sculimbrene, then-program director of the House of Hope, said in a 1999 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "A lot of the residents come here with dual diagnoses. Some are on psychiatric medications and others have to receive daily treatments of methadone."

The current House of Hope director declined comment.

UPMC spokesman Frank Raczkiewicz would not comment on how much the hospital spends on House of Hope. He said the program was treating a relatively small number of women, the last one due to graduate in December. He denied any connection between the shutdown and the cost of the new Monroeville hospital, which Monroeville Manager Marshall Bond put at $250 million. Mr. Raczkiewicz added that the hospital remains committed to Braddock.

"Given the current economic conditions, UPMC has had to make difficult decisions in order to remain a strong organization so it can continue its mission," he said in a statement.

"Despite the fact that [House of Hope] treats fewer than 20 residents a year we made this decision with great difficulty based on current economic trends and our need for fiscal responsibility."

Ms. Morgan, 41, and a mother of seven, graduated from House of Hope four years ago after 11 years of addiction, but returned often to share her story with residents.

She believes the closure speaks ill of UPMC's priorities. Not only is the health care system planning to invest heavily in Monroeville -- where, she notes, the income level is considerably higher than in Braddock -- it also moved its headquarters in March into five floors of the U.S. Steel Tower, one of Downtown's priciest addresses, and spent $750,000 putting its name in lights on all three sides of the building.

After the nation's financial meltdown, UPMC laid off 500 workers and said it would limit salary growth to 5 percent, half the growth of the year before. Last month it reported 16 percent growth in operating revenue for the first quarter of the fiscal year, with cash flow income on target to exceed $500 million for the year. It also said its investment portfolio declined by $321 million, to $2.8 billion.

"UPMC claims to care so deeply about the community, yet at the first sign of financial crisis they opt to cut a program that has a wonderful success rate for its graduates," Ms. Morgan said. "That sign on top of the U.S. Steel building probably costs more to run than the House of Hope."

Dr. Stefan Lovasik, head of behavioral health for the multi-site, nonprofit social service agency FamilyLinks, said he knows of no other comparable program in the region.

"I'm devastated they are closing this program," said Homewood resident Karla Barham, 33 and a former crack addict, who started looking for help when she realized she was pregnant with her fourth child. "I got denied from so many rehabs. I thought, I'm calling you for help and you can't take me because I'm pregnant, when I'm carrying another life? What sense does that make?"

House of Hope took her in. She graduated in March and says she's been doing well since then, working at her family's restaurant and looking for a full-time job in a terrible economy.

"They gave me a foundation to stay clean," she said. "I don't know if I'd have gotten that anywhere else. I was very fortunate to have the program, and I feel bad for all the women who won't get that chance."

UPMC Braddock continues to run several other programs, Mr. Raczkiewicz said, including a dental center for Medicaid patients, a free seven-week summer camp for 130 children, a mentoring program for Woodland Hills middle schoolers, nursing and social services at a senior high-rise in Homestead, and a program to address health care disparities.

He said any calls from patients who might have qualified for House of Hope would be referred to one of the 14 other agencies that address different needs of that population.