[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 166 (Friday, October 5, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1368-E1369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CONSTITUENT COMMENTS ON SOBER LIVING HOME PROBLEMS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. DANA ROHRABACHER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 5, 2018

  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to inform my colleagues about 
the hearing held by the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and 
Civil Justice on September 28, 2018 on the issue of sober living homes. 
I had the privilege of testifying at that hearing in support of my 
bill, H.R. 5724, to restore local oversight over sober living homes. As 
part of that testimony, I submitted to the Subcommittee letters from 
many of my constituents about problems with sober living homes caused 
by current federal law preventing appropriate local oversight. For the 
benefit of my colleagues and the American people, I include in the 
Record the first group of these constituent letters below:

       Generally speaking, Mr. Rohrabacher, you're not someone I 
     feel represents me as a constituent. However, this is one 
     topic I agree with you on, and I never thought I'd say that. 
     I've seen the sober living home industry firsthand. They 
     exploit the desperation of addicts and their families, offer 
     no real help, and when the addict relapses, they are kicked 
     to the curb the same day and don't get prorated their rent 
     money. If they paid for a month and get kicked out 3 days 
     later, they lose all that money. It's actually more 
     profitable for sober livings to have high failure rates 
     because when the next person moves in, they effectively get 
     paid twice for the bed; the forfeited rent and the new 
     person's. The sober living home doesn't concern itself with 
     whether or not the people they evict have somewhere to go. 
     It's not surprising that many end up on the streets. Many 
     sober living homes are poorly maintained, have bug 
     infestations, are overcrowded, and residents regularly 
     experience theft and violence. If the purpose of a sober 
     living is to give someone a fresh start and chance at 
     redemption, which it should be, then the sober living home 
     industry has failed miserably, and that failure has proven 
     lucrative for those who profit from human suffering. More 
     accountability is needed, addicts are people like everyone 
     else, and deserve better.
                                         Stephanie Ashley Larcome,
     Westminster, California.
                                  ____

       About a year ago my small block of mostly retirees was 
     introduced to ``sober living homes''. We were also introduced 
     to loss of parking due to various vehicles with out of state 
     plates, frequent local police responses, discarded needles, 
     altercations both verbal and physical and loud music in the 
     wee hours of the morning. Then the non-sober behavior 
     escalated to the overdose and death of 24-year-old Mark 
     Vallas of Chicago on February 24th, 2018. In March 2018, Tim 
     Flinn, the co-owner of New Existence Recovery, which managed 
     the sober living home where Mark Vallas died also overdosed 
     and also died. On July 23rd, four squad cars, a fire truck 
     and ambulance responded to yet another overdose at the same 
     house. Last week a house three houses down from the initial 
     sober living home converted to a sober living home. Last 
     week, police responded to a call regarding the new sober 
     living home. And two days later the Huntington Beach Police 
     Department responded yet again. The current scenario of 
     unregulated and unsupervised residences for addicts is not 
     working. How many more addicts must die as local governments 
     are threatened with lawsuits in an attempt to protect the 
     health and welfare of all? Please take action and support 
     corrective legislation. Thank you.
                                           Patricia Anne Quintana,
     Huntington Beach, California.
                                  ____

       We were the unfortunate neighbors of a sober-living home a 
     few years ago. The occupants were a source of constant 
     nuisance and criminal activity. My children couldn't play 
     outside in our backyard due to the constant, heavy cigarette 
     smoke and loud profanity coming from the residents. These 
     homes don't belong in residential neighborhoods.
                                                       Anne DeBie,
     Costa Mesa, California.
                                  ____

       I have lived at this address for 12 years. I have lived in 
     this neighborhood for 27 years. In that time, I have seen 
     cars be broken into at night. If cars are left unlocked, they 
     are ransacked and items taken such as electronic devices. 
     This is routine and typical. Clearly it has increased over 
     the years as more and more people come to the area for 
     treatment and fail. This is a residential neighborhood and 
     not a treatment/medical facility designated area. These homes 
     are not normal by housing multiple adults that would 
     typically have one or two residents in the same space 
     otherwise. We need to stop encouraging such a huge influx of 
     individuals into the community that don't have jobs, family 
     or a productive reason for being here. It creates a huge 
     burden on the city and its residents.
                                                    Sheila Cimini,
     Costa Mesa, California.
                                  ____

       I am a physician in Laguna Beach and my area and many 
     others around me are inundated with sober living homes. 
     Unscrupulous property owners are making a fortune housing 
     these individuals, many recruited from out of state. I am 
     sympathetic to these people and their problems, (as I have 
     experienced the pain of addiction in my own family). However, 
     many of these individuals seem largely unsupervised, hang out 
     in groups around local businesses and our beautiful beaches 
     smoking and making these areas less desirable for children, 
     locals and tourists. Once their coverage ends, (if they have 
     not overdosed in these homes) they are dumped onto the street 
     in my area and continue on as homeless. I very much would 
     like to see out of state addicts stay out of state and the 
     rapacious profits these homeowners make destroying my 
     neighborhood ended.
                                              James Russell, M.D.,
     Laguna Beach, California.
                                  ____

       A detox/sober living home went in across the street from me 
     over 3 years ago. At the time my boys were 7 and 10. Too 
     young to learn about drugs and inappropriate adult behavior. 
     Since then, there have and continues to be: puking, fighting, 
     patient dumping in front of my house, drugs being delivered 
     to my house, medical supplies in front of my house, 
     intimidation of residents and staff towards my children, 
     we've almost been hit 3 times by staff and delivery persons 
     while in my driveway, ambulances and firetrucks all hours of 
     day and night, my house has been entered 3 times, my car 
     broken into 2 times, my children cannot play out front from 
     the amount of cars, over 20 or more all day and night, drug 
     deliveries on a regular basis including 2 a.m., parking 
     issues, women walking around naked, cars parked with 
     strangers watching my children, blocking of street, residents 
     coming back with knives and kept outside endangering all the 
     neighbors, house not being taken care of and endangering 
     others with hanging roof parts in howling wind, U-turns 24 
     hours a day aimed at my house, my children and me, parking in 
     front of my driveway blocking my cars, enormous trash with 
     all the vermin that goes with it, blocking of fire hydrant 
     every day, screaming arguing women out front with foul 
     language in front of my children, unknown amounts of addicts 
     visiting residents and house while using my driveway and 
     staring at my children, runaway cars with no drivers, drug 
     dealers approaching me after school with children, men 
     leaving the house through side doors in the middle of the 
     night, volatile women coming and going scaring my 
     children, boyfriends of staff coming and going all hours 
     of the night, the residents have no air conditioning in 
     extreme weather, no backup generator for power outages in 
     cold weather, a regular hole in the front door, broken 
     windows from storms, fire and rattlesnake hazard by not 
     having regular yard maintenance, code violations from the 
     city, drinking. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week businesses 
     that cater to convicted criminals do not belong in 
     residential neighborhoods just doors down from a middle 
     school, a most vulnerable population. Businesses do not 
     belong in neighborhoods at all. We moved here and paid 
     millions to keep our children away from drugs, not to have 
     them enter our house and have us living in fear. Have you 
     ever had someone just walk into your home while you are 
     with your family enjoying your Sunday afternoon or having 
     Sunday dinner to the sound of puking out your front door? 
     The fear that someone can walk into your home on drugs and 
     fully high is paralyzing. Police cannot handle people high 
     on drugs and they are trained and have weapons. Not once, 
     not twice, but 3 times my house has been entered by a drug 
     addict, a very scary staff person and a man trying to 
     deliver dangerous meds in front of my children who would 
     have died if ingested. I was told by the owner that they 
     had insurance for that type of thing. Can you imagine 
     losing your child or having them permanently injured but 
     they have insurance? All in what was a safe neighborhood. 
     No one locked their doors now we spend hundreds on 
     security

[[Page E1369]]

     cameras and lock our doors just to go to another room to 
     do laundry in case someone decides to enter your house. 
     Just last week a woman was outside yelling at a parked car 
     about her situation. We had to hide in the house and be 
     quiet because she might jump the fence and harm us if we 
     were too noisy. I have boys. They are active. We have to 
     modify our lives and have done for years. No playing out 
     front without supervision. They are now 10 and 13. How sad 
     to have lost part of their childhood. The workers talk 
     very loudly about the residents and their private health 
     problems right outside my door. They have special drivers 
     that deliver some of the residents like they are at a 
     hotel. Staff and residents are constantly changing, and 
     they are not locals. How many of your neighbors move in 
     and out daily? It's unnerving.
                                                    Diane Babcock,
     Laguna Beach, California.
                                  ____

       I was driving home from getting breakfast at 6 a.m. on a 
     Sunday morning. As I was stopped at a light I could see a 
     young man in the area of a Bank of America shooting up drugs. 
     I drove over to him and yelled at him to put that down and to 
     stop doing drugs in public where kids can see him. He 
     immediately put down whatever he was doing. I asked if he was 
     hungry and he said he was. I gave him half of my sandwich. I 
     asked him why he was out here and doing this. He said he went 
     home and was high and they kicked him out of his sober living 
     house a few days ago. They always end up on the streets if 
     they fail their program. I've seen several times where sober 
     living is failing these people and they seem to be worse off 
     than when they lived around their family and friends and now 
     have no way to get back home.
                                                     Ada Thornton,
     Costa Mesa, California.
                                  ____

       Yes, there are problems with facilities that are not 
     licensed. There are many that are though and are trying to 
     help these people. I work at a facility in Huntington Beach, 
     we are licensed with the state and certified with the Joint 
     Commission. I'm the program director and deal mostly with our 
     licensing. The problem with local governments that I've seen 
     attempting to deal with the ``problem'' is that they try and 
     shut down all the facilities, even the good ones trying to 
     actually help. If the good facilities are forced to move out 
     of neighborhoods, where would we go? Industrial areas aren't 
     zoned to have people living there and the cost of having to 
     lease a building and construct it to accommodate living 
     facilities would put us out of business and other good 
     facilities as well, meaning lots of people losing their jobs. 
     There are many levels of care to the treatment process and 
     the ``sober living'' you speak of is actually the lowest 
     level of care, IOP, or a sober living is also just a house 
     that's rented out by people that are sober and aren't 
     actually affiliated with any kind of treatment program. 
     Again, I think this bill would adversely affect the 
     facilities that are trying to do the right things and help 
     these people. IOP ``sober living'' does not require any 
     licensing or certifications so they aren't held to any 
     standards of conduct. Residential detox and RTC levels of 
     care are. There needs to be a distinction between these in 
     the bill. Unlicensed verses licensed.
                                                       Josh Juroe,
     Fountain Valley, California.
                                  ____

       I'm writing regarding the sober living tragedy that is 
     plaguing our community. My family and I live in Huntington 
     Beach, CA aka ``Rehab Riviera'' and this is a direct result 
     of unethical body brokering into many sober living homes and 
     rehab recovery centers throughout Huntington Beach.
       Prior to this new generation of entrepreneurs focusing on 
     the sick, weak, drug and alcohol addicted, this community was 
     like a Mayberry at the beach. Now, our community has become a 
     toxic waste of drug needles on the streets and across the 
     beaches, zombie like drug addicted sober living tenants 
     roaming at all hours of the night, burglaries, harassment, 
     fear to go to our local parks due to drug deals and 
     paraphernalia being constantly discovered and baggies of 
     drugs being left to be picked up and handed to me by my 
     children in the local grocery store parking lot.
       This is a disgrace to our community and the situation is 
     not be addressed by our local law enforcement. I personally 
     have had several negative experiences with the tenants of the 
     sober living homes, the recovery centers and those that 
     decided to leave the unhealthy environments and live on the 
     streets of Huntington Beach. The police have been called and 
     they catch and release those that are clearly intoxicated 
     with paraphernalia on them but ``not enough'' to arrest the 
     person. My kids have picked up drug baggies and pointed at 
     dirty needles and ran home from the parks due to the amount 
     of ``left by the wayside dropouts'' from the recovery centers 
     and sober livings residing at the parks. Deaths have occurred 
     in the sober livings and my children's classmates have 
     witness the deceased being rolled out and into ambulances. 
     And to top it off, Wavelengths Recovery Center is based on 
     Main Street and the owner, Warren Boyd along with his 
     employees and ``patients'' cloak the street bringing their 
     riffraff, along with foul language, smoking and hanging about 
     in groups of at least 10 along Main Street, while they watch 
     their new multimillion dollar facility being built on the 
     corner of Main and Orange.
       Is this what we want to show our children as a way of life, 
     is this what the tax payers are wanting in their community? 
     The answer is no! Wavelengths continues to buy up historical 
     properties just to tear them down and build multi-roomed 
     homes to maximize capacity for cash flow. It's unethical and 
     when the fire marshal shows up to check the facility they are 
     tipped off and take the overstock of people are relocate them 
     temporarily or on a field trip in one of the many white vans 
     that cruise through town aka ``druggie buggies''.
       Or we can touch on the fraudulent activities that are being 
     handled between the insurance companies and these facilities. 
     What are you going to do to protect our families and put a 
     stop to these heinous acts that are plaguing this community 
     and many others around Southern California? The amount of 
     money that is being made off the transactions between 
     recovery centers, sober livings and privately owned detoxes 
     is astronomical and unacceptable. And has become a 
     misrepresented solution for those addicted.
       I have many years of sobriety and once upon a time there 
     was a chance to have the freedom I have today. For those that 
     choose these facilities as a solution, there is a slim chance 
     to stay sober. Our local politicians and law enforcement are 
     not addressing this situation with any urgency and that is 
     why I'm expecting you to take action on a larger scale. 
     Please help us to restore safety to our community and remove 
     these facilities.
       Thank you,
                                                    Robin Grisham,
     Huntington Beach, California.
                                  ____

       We live kitty corner to a sober living house. We are 
     constantly hearing dogs barking all night long. Several 
     attempts were made with the manager to solve this issue 
     however the dogs continue to bark. The residents of the 
     facility are still using drugs as they were found at the 
     school as well as selling drugs across the street from the 
     middle school. That particular incident led to the police 
     being called. The suspects ran through several backyards and 
     tried to break into a house down the street. After this 
     incident many residents including children are scared to 
     sleep in their own homes and are seriously considering on 
     moving. There are many children and elderly people in this 
     area who are easy prey to drug dealers and users. I have been 
     living here for 16 years and I am shocked that this type of 
     thing is happening in my backyard. Not only has my sleep 
     suffered I am having trouble concentrating at work. I am 
     afraid for my special needs son's safety because the suspect 
     ran through our backyard. If this continues people can get 
     hurt or lose their lives if it escalates. Please help us stop 
     the sober living houses from spreading. It is a scam. It 
     doesn't help the people who are addicted. It allows them a 
     safe place to continue to abuse drugs while stealing from the 
     insurance companies to pay for treatment. These sober living 
     houses only make the owner rich while exploiting those who 
     need help.
                                                 Jennifer Shields,
     Huntington Beach, California.

                          ____________________