Home Oversight

* Re “Oversight Urged for Sober Living Houses,” May 21:

The Orange County sober living homes need a collaborative approach to quality control oversight.

Orange County is fortunate to have many quality sober living homes assist recovering persons without government funding. These homes deserve to be recognized and respected.

State licensing is not the answer. There are many group living homes that are referred to as “sober living,” when, in fact, they provide treatment or supervision services that easily fall under current state licensing laws.

For five years, bills in Sacramento to license sober living and other group living homes have distracted local governments from developing a collaborative method or identifying the quality sober living homes and addressing the problem homes.

Local governments have adequate building, safety and nuisance abatement laws to address problem housing under their jurisdiction.

Cities can and should utilize their code-enforcement abilities to ensure that all housing (including group living homes) promotes health, is safe and operates in harmony with the neighbors.

The Orange County Sober Living Coalition has a developed quality control plan that involves inspecting member homes to ensure they meet the coalition’s health, safety, management and ethical standards.

The coalition is seeking to establish a collaborative quality control approach with Orange County’s criminal justice, social welfare and substance abuse offices.

This approach offers an opportunity for the quality homes to be identified and accepted as an essential component of the recovery system. It also can coordinate with cities that wish to address problem homes that are not members of the sober living coalition.

KEN SCHONLAU

Project Director,

Sober Living Network

Santa Monica