Sober Living home face new regulations
According to the budget there are not any current state licensing requirements or reglations of properties being used as Sober Living facilities. These are homes in the community with shared bedrooms that provides interim housing for people successfully leaving a recovery program.
Neighbors of these homes have been voicing complaints about zoning, increased undesirable behavior and transient residents for a while now. Because of the lack of regulation there is no way to tell how many homes are in operation and how many they house at any given time.
The cost of the program will be reimbursed by fees collected from operators. Two additional city clerks are planned for the 400 homes estimated at an increase of $235,000 to the Neighborhood Services Deparment.
Now I find this redundant as there is already an association that certifies Arizona Recovery Houses including Sober Living Homes. This association does site visits, policy oversight and administration and oversight.
Why couldn’t the City just require that Sober Living homes be certified through this organization and get out of the regulation industry all together. This would also shift responsiblity and accountability back to an outside organization, something the city already has a lot of experience with.