[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 170 (Friday, October 12, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1394-E1396]
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 12, 2018

  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise again regarding the hearing held 
by the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice on 
September 28, 2018 on the issue of sober living homes. At that hearing, 
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 my 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 third group of these constituent letters:

       As an ER nurse and a mom, I taught my children the dangers 
     of drugs and thought I would never have issues. At 17, my 
     high functioning autistic child was addicted to marijuana. I 
     sent him to wilderness camp, rehab centers and nothing 
     worked. At 18, I made a decision to put him into a sober 
     living home thinking he would learn life skills and to be 
     clean. Instead, he learned that if he would fail sober living 
     and go to a rehab center he was eligible for a grant of $3000 
     and he could keep $1000 but the guy who was setting it up 
     would keep the rest. His job is to recruit people to fail at 
     sober living to obtain grants. Luckily for us, my child had 
     the fear of never being able to live at home. I have seen at 
     least 100 patients from SLH test positive for substances even 
     hiding small shampoo bottles inside body cavities with other 
     people's urine to use for testing. Recruit to CA for more 
     money in benefits is what they are told. Then they are stuck 
     here. I see patients that are here from Maryland, Texas, 
     Nebraska, and Florida. They were brought here for rehab, went 
     into sober living home and now are homeless, addicts, with no 
     money to get home.
                                                   Monte Kay Yohr,
     Huntington Beach, California.
                                  ____

       My wife and I have lived in our home for 29 years and 
     raised our kids here. It was a quiet residential neighborhood 
     up until approximately a couple of months ago when a sober 
     living home moved in four doors down from us. Since then I 
     have witnessed numerous occasions when armed police officers 
     and parole officials have had to come to the sober living 
     home to talk with the residents. This August at approximately 
     1:30 a.m. there were three individuals captured on numerous 
     neighborhood surveillance cameras cooking up heroine, jumping 
     over fences and trying to enter the homes of my neighbors as 
     police officers tried to apprehend them. Needless to say, as 
     these drug people were just outside my home, my wife and I 
     were very upset! On another occasion one of the sober living 
     home residents had one of their pit bull dogs loose and on 
     the street barking and terrorizing the neighbors. Thankfully 
     the dog catcher was able to apprehend them before someone got 
     hurt or bit! Treatment centers are needed, BUT not in a 
     family residential neighborhood! Please help us regain our 
     neighborhood!
                                                   Alan Osterhout,
     Huntington Beach, California.
                                  ____

       Ever since the detox/sober living home opened IN our 
     neighborhood, our lives have never been the same. Loud and 
     obnoxious music, nonstop barking dogs, day and night. Cars 
     and people in and out of the house at all hours. There's been 
     incidents of them trying to break in to people's homes, 
     running through our yards at night, doing heroin in the 
     street corner and one exposing himself to a child. All this 
     in a neighborhood full of hardworking and law-abiding 
     families and less than fifty feet from a middle school. There 
     is something terribly wrong when the government fails us at 
     all levels. The fact that we pay taxes should count for 
     something, especially when it comes to protecting our 
     families. If something isn't done soon, I'm afraid there 
     won't be any turning back. You need to implement rules, 
     regulations and laws that will prohibit these unscrupulous 
     places from invading our neighborhoods. These are for-profit 
     places, money is their goal. The characters running these 
     places are shady, we know for a fact that several of them are 
     in probation and all the activity described above is 
     substantiated by video footage. I'm pleading with you to 
     please save our families and our neighborhoods.
                                                  Manuela Almeida,
     Huntington Beach, California.
                                  ____

       The purpose of this letter is to be among the several with 
     growing concerns over the establishment of a Sober Living 
     Home in our community. My wife and I live on [ADDRESS], next 
     to [REDACTED] Elementary in Huntington Beach. A Sober Living 
     Home was recently established at the end of our block. Since 
     that time our neighborhood has undergone a sweeping change in 
     way in which we conduct our day-to-day activities.
       We have noticed a marked increase in the number of people 
     who are not members of our neighborhood, simply walking the 
     street. At first, this does not sound too ominous. Then we 
     add in the number of cars, not from the local area that are 
     driving very slowly up and down our street. Please remember 
     that we are located within 300 feet of an active Middle 
     School. These are not the cars of parents picking up their 
     children as school starts on September 5 for them. These are 
     not people who are lost or looking for an address. These are 
     people who seem to stop and start in front of the Sober 
     Living House. There are people at all hours of the night that 
     seem to open the trunk of a car and put something in; or, 
     take something out of the car and then carry on down the 
     street. This is all documented and supported with footage 
     from local household security cameras.
       My curiosity rose to the highest level of concern when on 
     Friday morning, August 24 at 1:30 AM, I was startled by 
     unusual noises outside the front of my house, where my 
     bedroom window is located. I looked outside the shutters only 
     to find two strangers at my window. Please take notice that 
     my bedroom window is 30 feet or a full driveway length off 
     the street. These two were prowling in front of my bedroom 
     where my wife and I were sleeping. I ran to the front door, 
     which is always locked and chained, turned on the porch light 
     to startle and scare them off. My wife shouted we were 
     calling the police and indicated we had a gun. I also have 
     the RING security doorbell/camera. I activated it immediately 
     so that I could observe their response. The video shows two 
     male figures approaching my front door and then turning

[[Page E1395]]

     and leaving. We called the Huntington Beach police department 
     who immediately dispatched a patrol car. The car was seen 
     driving up and around our neighborhood. My wife notified 
     other members of our neighborhood watch group and 
     communication between neighbors began quickly. We learned 
     that other people had similar occurrences, including one 
     neighbor who had his house invaded by them. They apparently 
     entered a house, saw the occupant, turned and fled.
       My wife and I eventually spoke with a police officer at 
     2:30 AM after placing a second call to the department. During 
     our ``interview'' the officer informed us that they were 
     looking for two adults, one male and one female. We reported 
     two males. Therefore, it turns out there were three people 
     involved in this event. The officer informed us that the 
     Sober Living Home was NOT involved. Strangely enough, after 
     several members of our neighborhood became involved and 
     checked their security cameras, the group of two and three 
     were seen crossing the backyards of several homes in the 
     neighborhood, entering and exiting the Sober Living House 
     where, it was documented, they may have lived, or visited 
     frequently. We were then able to piece together a complete 
     story that involved these three being involved in drug 
     transportation and use (witnessed by residents), the police 
     and police helicopter called in to apprehend, the suspects 
     crossing through several backyards and, as previously stated, 
     entering a neighborhood home while the resident was there. 
     Remember, the police said members of the Sober Living House 
     were not involved, yet quite clearly, they were.
       While I understand the local police would like to control 
     the situation, I find it appalling that they believe that 
     dis-information and mis-information is the best way to 
     proceed. A neighborhood meeting was called over this event. A 
     local member of our community volunteered their house for the 
     meeting. I attended it and sat quietly. I learned of parents 
     that are afraid to let their child walk the quiet 
     neighborhood block to school, I heard of the large number of 
     households that have invested in security cameras for their 
     homes. My wife and I are among them. I now have enhanced 
     security lights and cameras in both my front and back yards. 
     Neighbors that are now keeping firearms more readily 
     accessible to assist in the unfortunate case of a perfect 
     stranger simply entering a home where they do not belong. On 
     an incredibly personal level, there are times when I am 
     called out of town. This past weekend was one such time. For 
     the first time in my twenty-eight-year marriage and my wife's 
     58 years on this planet, she felt the need to sleep with a 
     loaded gun next to our bed. This must be unacceptable and yet 
     it is becoming essential to our well-being.
       My distress rose to the point of anger to find that the 
     people using the noble cause of establishing a Sober Living 
     Environment had criminal records, were under investigation 
     for conning older people out of money for bogus investment 
     opportunities and, while all this is documented, nobody can 
     do anything about it. We are told that if the Sober Living 
     Homes are small enough, they can exist virtually unregulated, 
     yet incredibly well-funded by insurance companies. Local 
     governments are frustrated while State governments contribute 
     to the problem by ignoring the possibility of corruption and 
     challenges they permit by not regulating the environment they 
     created. When ``clean'' urine is dropped off to make sure 
     residents can pass random drug tests, not much confidence can 
     develop in the system.
       Mr. Peterson [Mayor Pro Tempore, Huntington Beach] I have 
     been informed that you will be speaking before a U.S. House 
     committee about establishing some federal guidelines over 
     these communities. Please believe that while I want every 
     individual to have a legitimate second chance, and I 
     understand that might mean some might have to exist in my 
     neighborhood, I do not believe that an entire community 
     should be told by a Limited Liability Corporation with an 
     invisible manager that the entire community must sacrifice 
     their safety, their security, their way of life simply 
     because a corporation does not have to follow any rules, 
     because no real rules exist.
       While we might look at local legislation on a city level, 
     there is great difficulty to do this because the State of 
     California does not support the efforts of its citizenry and 
     the local communities they are supposed to be in service of. 
     As one of the members of our city council and as someone that 
     has been asked to speak before the House Subcommittee, I 
     would like to add our names to the many that are in search of 
     help from our elected officials. We helped put you in your 
     position conditioned on the promise you would look out for 
     us. You will be speaking with other people put into that same 
     position but on a larger stage. Please make sure our voices 
     are heard and that some positive outcome from this is to be 
     reasonably expected. The wheels of government move slowing on 
     a national level when only a neighborhood is involved; 
     however, since there are neighborhoods across California and 
     some other States with similar issues, I am hoping this 
     develops into an issue of prominence. I/we are counting on 
     you to make that happen.
       Please feel free to reach out to myself or any of the many 
     members of our community and others for additional 
     information or perspective. We, the citizens of your 
     community are looking forward to your report. We hope you 
     will make the substance of your experience available to us 
     all.
                                                        John Sims,
     Huntington Beach, California.
                                  ____

       Since owning a home in 2008, I have yet to NOT live next to 
     a sober living home. In Costa Mesa, I lived next to two. One 
     next door and one across the street. In Huntington Beach, I 
     live next to one which is located directly across the street.
       I am married and have three small boys ages seven, five and 
     three. They rarely go outside in the front yard due to the 
     sober living homes. Crime is ever present, drug needles found 
     on the street, relapses, a near constant stream of cars 
     coming and going and my son almost getting hit by these 
     people speeding.
       They are a business and need to be treated as such. There 
     should be regulations on how many per community, how close to 
     one another as well as how close to a school.
       I'm all for recovery but my issue is the owners who don't 
     care about many of these people trying to recover. Why not 
     set up in a business park? The owners use our communities as 
     profit to their business, could care less about investing in 
     the community and make a lot of money with the aid of 
     insurance. I don't understand how insurance continues to pay 
     these homes.
       These are businesses and need to be treated as such and not 
     be in a residential community affecting kids, families and 
     its residents.
                                                      Sean Croson,
     Huntington Beach, California.
                                  ____

       I have lived in many and managed one sober living house in 
     my lifetime. I have also worked at two licensed facilities 
     specializing in addiction treatment. The fact is a sober 
     house is a landlord renting rooms to individuals. Attempting 
     to regulate housing based on how it is marketed or to whom it 
     is marketed is not a direction I would be comfortable seeing 
     my community take. If it succeeded, it would increase the 
     number of homeless addicts on the street. Yes, many people 
     with money or insurance do come to rehab in licensed 
     facilities. I find it difficult to believe that people coming 
     from other areas for a determined number of days who have 
     insurance or the many thousands per month that rehab costs 
     are contributing significantly to the number of homeless 
     addicts on the street. People may not like addicts living 
     near them. Who would? But people might not like a commune of 
     musicians or a group of loud teenagers moving in next to them 
     either. They must be handled in the same manner: the way one 
     would handle an annoying neighbor. What is being proposed 
     sounds preposterous to me and trust me when I say the 
     community will regret it if all those people must suddenly 
     find somewhere else to live. What will we do next? Ask the 
     police to become more aggressive until more people get killed 
     for no reason?
                                                         Tony Kaz,
     Huntington Beach, California.
                                  ____

       There were two sober living/recovery homes on my elderly 
     mother's street. I say ``were'' because they turned out to be 
     a total nightmare and thankfully a councilman was 
     instrumental in helping to get them removed. The street is 
     [REDACTED], and not until a young man died, did much change 
     from the needles in neighbors' yards to unruly situations, 
     etc. Needless to say, it was very unsettling and a shame that 
     someone had to die in order for major change to happen. We 
     now have a few in our neighborhood and one is 2 blocks away. 
     It is on [ADDRESS]. There have been a few incidents already 
     involving that house. Hopefully we can do something to have 
     some accountability for these businesses. Common sense needs 
     to prevail! Thank you for what you can do.
                                                    Sherrie Wolfe,
     Huntington Beach, California.
                                  ____

       I strongly request that provisions be enacted to regulate 
     the growth of large and small sober living and detox 
     facilities establishing locations in residential communities.
       Located on my street, less than 100 yards from a middle 
     school is an SLH/detox facility that recently opened its 
     doors. In the past 30 days, curbside drug consumption, 
     attempted and successful B & E, unleashed dog complaints and 
     drug sales have been documented less than 100 yards from the 
     middle school. Evidence was video-taped and filed with the 
     local police, city council members and the city attorney. 
     Absolutely nothing can be done by these ``protective'' 
     officials by their own admissions as documented in their 
     emails to residents of our neighborhood. The message is that 
     there are no enforceable guidelines for them to follow. There 
     is a ground swell of very concerned and scared residents and 
     families banding together to create a self-protecting group 
     which I feel is a poor workaround to the protection that we 
     should be provided from our police and local government.
       I implore you to expeditiously enact legislation that will 
     provide a process to evaluate and approve Sober Living and 
     Detox facilities in residential areas. These are health care 
     facilities that need to adhere to a fair and reasonable 
     standard work process. The process must provide our police 
     and government officials a path to systematically evaluate 
     complaints and apply corrective action rapidly if needed.
       I have researched and learned that the State of Florida and 
     the City of Costa Mesa, California have implemented 
     legislation that has been successful at sorting out good 
     operators from those that are not utilizing a fair

[[Page E1396]]

     and balanced method of initial approval and operational 
     evaluation.
       Please work to make this a bi-partisan effort as political 
     preference has absolutely nothing to do with what is needed. 
     Respectfully submitted.
                                                   Leslie Wannall,
     Huntington Beach, California.
                                  ____

       As a result of the recent opening of a detox sober living 
     home in my neighborhood, my family has experienced many 
     negative consequences. Last week, my teenage son heard noises 
     outside his bedroom window and discovered two members of the 
     sober living home were cooking heroin on the back of his car, 
     shooting up and attempting to sell heroin. The amount of 
     traffic on our street from people cruising by the home all 
     night long keeps our family up at night. Many nights there 
     are helicopters overhead for several hours, which also 
     affects our sleep. In addition, this home has two pit bulls 
     that have been outside off leash, barking angrily at all who 
     walk by. These dogs are left outside in the backyard and bark 
     all night. We have seen camera footage of members of this 
     home breaking into my neighbors' homes. This particular home, 
     [REDACTED], is run by an ex-convict as a 10-bed facility when 
     the law states 6 beds is the maximum allowed in a residential 
     area. Down the street is a middle school. It is unacceptable 
     and unsafe to have this type of home in our neighborhood. 
     Several neighbors are choosing to move but we shouldn't have 
     to move to maintain our safety and quality of life. I implore 
     you to please take this matter seriously. In addition, if 
     people are truly seeking to detox from drugs and alcohol, 
     this is not a suitable environment to support sobriety.
       Thank you for your consideration,
                                                    Shelley Buker,
     Huntington Beach, California.

                          ____________________