Hundreds of people filled the Laguna Hills Community Center on Thursday to hear a discussion about “sober living homes” (SLH). SLH are homes where recovered alcohol or drug users go to recover from their addiction. Usually these homes have 6 or fewer people and usually they are not licensed by any State agency. In the last few years, these types of homes have grown and in some cases their presence has changed the nature of the communities in which they live.
The speakers at the conference included several State representatives as well as lawyers from prominent law firms that service cities. Everyone spoke about achieving a balance between the rights of the disabled people and the rights of the neighbors. It was emphasized that there are thousands of these homes operating effectively that do not come to public attention, and it is only the poor operators who have homes that create problems. When this happens, the complaints center on –
· Excessive noise, especially after hours
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· Problems from second hand smoke
· Drug paraphernalia in the area
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· Open drug dealing in the area
· Excessive numbers of people actually living in the homes
At the local level, these problems can be dealt with through the HOA (if applicable) and/or the City, including the Police. At the State level, there are several bills making their way through the Legislature that are designed to help manage the problem. As described at the meeting these are –
AB 2255 Melendez
The bill would create an optional state certification that sober living homes could apply for. The state would then maintain a list of accredited facilities, which consumers would hopefully use.
AB 2403 Bloom
Allows cities and counties to request that the State Dept. of Health Care Services deny a license for a new alcohol or drug use treatment facility if the new facility would result in overconcentration.
On May 5, 2016 the City Council sent a letter to Assemblyman Bloom supporting this bill.
Click on the name of the bill’s author to find out more about these bills.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on August 13 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.
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