Bishop Hubbard’s legacy lives on through Hope House

Hope House, the Albany drug treatment and recovery facility, is honoring the legacy of its founder, the late Bishop Howard Hubbard.

Hubbard, 84, died Saturday, August 19, after suffering a stroke, but his colleagues at Hope House say his charitable work will live on.

Hubbard started working in Albany’s South End neighborhood in the ’60s, where he was known as a street priest, tackling a variety of issues dealing with poverty, drug and alcohol abuse in the community. Executive Director Kevin Connally said Hubbard created Hope House in 1967 by gathering a group of volunteers.

He said they opened a small shelter and treatment facility and decades later, Hope House continues to help those in need.

“He had this unbelievable desire to help people, certainly with drugs and addiction, but certainly with people that had mental health issues, people that have housing issues, he wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and that’s what he did,” said Connally.

Connally will miss seeing the Bishop at meetings, he said, but the work Hubbard started at Hope House will continue.