[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.
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