Amid growing concerns from the public, the Orange County Grand Jury has recommended increased regulation of group homes like sober living facilities across the county. The recommendation is part of a 42-page report, titled “Welcome to the Neighborhood: Are cities responsibly managing the integration of group homes?”
Southern California is a popular location for group homes and rehab facilities. According to the California Department of Public Health, over half of the state’s 1,864 rehab facilities are in Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernadino and Riverside counties. There is such a large concentration of these facilities in Orange that the county has earned the nickname, “The Rehab Riviera.”
Under the law, sober living homes cannot be treated differently than single family housing. Most are not required to be licensed and, unlike most other group homes, they are not limited to six residents.
Residential neighbors often find themselves at odds with these facilities. Complaints range from noise and parking issues to public relapse and “curbing,” whereby a resident is kicked out on the street for one reason or another. This is not the case for all sober living facilities, the Grand Jury notes, but only those where a lack of oversight leads to poor management.
“The outcry is that unregulated sober living residences make for bad neighbors,” the Grand Jury writes. “Sober living homes are not always bad neighbors, but when they are concentrated in a small geographic area or neighborhood, the common nuisances can become more visible and disruptive. Ultimately, this raises concerns about the potential or actual diminished character of the neighborhood.”
The Grand Jury recommends that Orange County and its cities come up with regulatory plans and pool their resources to fend off subsequent lawsuits.
“The cities and County of Orange would benefit by working in partnership with one another to garner resources and create a coalition to promote change,” according to the Grand Jury.
Read the entire report here.