Fountain Valley receives update on sober living houses, state efforts

Residents Fountain Valley wrapped the camera on Thursday at the Leisure Center, with the chance to hear and receive questions answered by a group on the theme of sober living houses.

The sober living houses are intended to provide an alcohol and drug environment to help individuals go from rehabilitation to an independent life.

The public cry has highlighted several concerns, including a disruptive and unfavorable behavior, which some who live near the houses say that it included the consumption of drugs, noise and other public shades in their neighborhoods. The feelings shared from the participants said that the presence of sober life houses caused a quality problem and complicated problems for families raising children.

The Fountain Valley Municipal Council has adopted a Ordinance to regulate group houses – including sober life houses – on March 1, 2024. Sobor life operators who have not licensed the state received a year to bring their properties in compliance. The facilities must have a special use permit and cannot house more than six residents.

The execution has begun. Code application officers can make visits to the yard at the suspected houses to operate outside the law to determine their use. If an officer is not allowed within the property to investigate, they can ask the neighbors if there is evidence of its operation as a facility subject to the ordinance. The neighbor providing evidence should testify in an administrative hearing.

The existing sober living houses had 90 days since the adoption of the ordinance last year to request the necessary special use permit. According to officials, a dozen Sobre residential houses were approved for one and four. These public hearings took place over a two -week period in February.

Another 11 properties in the city, including 10 sober life houses, have special pea -pea permission.

The application officers issued 22 cities for operation without a special use permit from Thursday. The first violation comes with a fine of $ 100. Failure to comply with a week would result in a fine of $ 200, and each additional week would bear a $ 500 fine, said the deputy director of the city and the Community Development Director, Omar Dadabhoy.

“At this moment, the application of the code really focuses on verifying and applying those who are not allowed,” Dadabhoy said. “The next step is that we will visit the ones we have approved special permit for use … We will ensure that they meet our regulations.”

In addition, sober living houses and state authorized facilities should be separated by at least 650 meters. Fountain Valley has 21 state authorized facilities operating in the city, according to data on the city’s website.

The inhabitants have made efforts for stricter regulations, with one who asks the city to hire an officer for the execution of the code dedicated exclusively to the issues related to sober living houses. Others considered that the requirement of 650 meters of separation between sober living houses and state authorized facilities for individualism and drug addiction did not go far enough.

Alexandra Halfman, a legal adviser of the city, said that the ordinance prevents “the excess of concentration and institutionalized setting that destroys the character of the residential neighborhood and defeats the purpose” someone who enters a recovery house. She warned that laws cannot be prepared in a discriminatory manner.

“You go to the house to move to normal life,” Halfman said. “Having all these facilities take over an entire block does not really serve for this purpose. The purpose of this ordinance is to maintain the space, so that you do not finish with a whole bag that is dominated by these types of facilities.”

Halfman also encouraged residents to announce the city if they experienced “neighboring bad behavior”.

These provisions reflect an ordinance adopted above in Costa Mesa. Mission Viejo recently approved the first reading of an ordinance that requires 1,000 meter separation between group houses.

Public officials stated that, during the City Hall meeting, this change at the state level, regarding the regulation of the sober living houses depends on a message that addresses the well -being of people in recovery.

“What we have discovered is that the reason for the last 15 years that we have not been able to get anything, any solutions that would allow us to help our communities, is because it was perceived as” we do not want this in our neighborhood, “said Mission Viejo, Pro Feme Wendy Bucknum, which co-frame the working group of life and recovery in California.

“We feel that if these houses are regulated and there is adequate supervision, that it will be improved in the neighborhood. We feel if these people are properly cared for, the impact on the neighborhood will be minimized.”

Kris Murray, executive director of ASSN. From the cities of California, Orange County, said cities can serve as a control against bad operators.

“People are injured in these facilities,” Murray said. “This is an absolute. The state has not followed, offering responsible legal supervision, so it is absolutely essential that, at the city level, we work to take some of this control back … It is about lucrative operators to milk these persons.”

Diane Dixon’s gathering woman said she works on several invoices related to the regulation of sober living houses. She said that the invoices would cope with the grouping of such properties, require a letter to be sent to insurance companies to indicate that no medical treatment is done on the site, and a third would require a report when a death unit occurs.

“We all come from several ways,” said Dixon, adding that more laws are introduced by others at the state level. “The conclusion is that there are a lot of promising laws now introduced to strengthen the calendar, to inform local officials, to ensure better care and to conclude patients for profit. This happens.