Board OKs Contract for Live-In Center for Young Drug Addicts
San Diego County supervisors on Tuesday approved a $425,000 contract with a private firm to provide a center where local youths can live in an attempt to break their dependency on drugs.
The contract was granted to Phoenix House of Orange County Inc., which operates seven such centers nationwide. The San Diego facility is to open by June and will have room for 30 adolescents.
Phoenix House doesn’t yet have a building for the center, but the group will begin interviewing youths and their families this month. As many as 15 youths may be sent to Phoenix House programs in Orange County and in Westchester County, N.Y., until the company buys or builds a local center.
Among the sites being considered is one in Valley Center that has been used in the past by the Sober Live-In Center Ranch. SLIC Ranch was closed by the county in May for operating without a permit, but in August it was granted a permit to re-open. The ranch has remained closed because its directors have found it too expensive to meet fire safety, water and sanitary standards.
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