Cities throughout California could soon have some type of enforcement mechanism over virtually unregulated sober living and other group homes that have impacted neighborhoods – especially in Orange County’s coastal areas.
State Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) is spearheading a bill that would give city officials more power to ensure the group homes aren’t becoming public nuisances in residential tracts.
“It simply allows for greater authority to go in and inspect and search if necessary – so enforcement doesn’t just fall on one entity (the CA Dept. of Healthcare Services) that’s already overburdened,” Umberg said in a Friday phone interview.
It’s the latest in a series of bills from local state legislators to crackdown on unregulated group homes.
Assemblywoman Laurie Davies (R-Laguna Niguel) has a bill that would require licensed drug addiction treatment centers to publicly post state violations online.
Assemblyman Avelino Valencia (D-Anaheim) introduced a bill that would bar unlicensed group homes from neighborhoods.
Lax Group Home Oversight
In 2017, the Orange County Register published an investigative series, digging into the lax regulations and loose oversight of the state-licensed group homes, with reporters finding a series of regulatory loopholes that allowed many fraudulent clinics to open up that exacerbated the homeless crisis.
“I hate to cast aspersions at all the homes – because all the homes are not acting in an improper manner. But, unfortunately too many are,” Umberg said. “They’re simply sucking up insurance dollars and once those dollars run out, they’re turning people back to the streets.”
Umberg said the situation’s created a bad image for group homes across the county.
“I think the most acute or at least the most visible issue with the homes is in Orange County for unique reasons. I think we’ve developed somewhat of a fraud infrastructure here in a sense.”
Meanwhile, Newport Beach city officials have been struggling to get some type of oversight from the California Department of Healthcare Services – the agency responsible for group homes.
“The City’s experience is that [the department’s] complaint division is generally non-responsive and allows facilities to operate without a current valid license or without any license. This could be due to a lack of resources and the limited presence of [department] staff in Orange County,” reads a February letter city officials sent to state Auditor Grant Parks.
Department officials did not respond to questions on the oversight of group homes.
In a March 15 phone interview, Newport Beach City Councilman Will O’Neill said it’s the problematic group homes that taint the efforts to address mental health and drug abuse issues.
“Our view tends to be that, 100% people need help – there’s a lot of drug addiction out there, there’s a lot of mental health problems,” O’Neill said. “Ultimately, it really comes down to what are you trying to accomplish. At the state level, they’re trying to provide the opportunity for people to get well and of course we should try to do that.”
But, O’Neill said, profits fuels exploitative group home operators.
“There’s a financial incentive for them, but not necessarily an incentive for them to do good – and we need them to do good,” O’Neill said. “Like anything else, when you are creating laws like this you need to have enforcement mechanisms. They put money toward the programs, but not oversight.”
In a 2023 report, OC Grand Jurors highlighted a series of problems the group homes present to neighborhoods.
“The outcry is that unregulated sober living residences make for bad neighbors. Sober living homes are not always bad neighbors, but when they are concentrated in a small geographic area or neighborhood, the common nuisances can become more visible and disruptive. Ultimately, this raises concerns about the potential or actual diminished character of the neighborhood,” OC Grand Jurors wrote in their 2023 report.
Will Prop 1 Proliferate Group Homes?
In recent weeks, there’s been public concerns raised by some city council members in Huntington Beach and Newport Beach that Prop 1 will lead to an increase in group homes.
The concerns prompted both municipalities to leave the California League of Cities over the advocacy group’s support for Prop 1 – a move spearheaded by Republican city council members in both cities.
[Read: Newport Beach Bails on CA League of Cities Over Prop 1]
Prop 1 is a statewide ballot measure that could see $6.4 billion in bonds issued – aimed at addressing mental health issues and building more housing for homeless people. It could also restructure mental health funding and its earmarks at the county level.
As of Monday afternoon, Prop. 1 was passing by just over 28,000 votes statewide.
[Read: How Will California’s Prop. 1 Impact Orange County’s Mental Health Funding?]
The Townsend Public Affairs group, in a January analysis conducted for Mission Viejo, found the statewide measure could streamline development of group homes.
O’Neill, the Newport Beach city councilman, said Prop 1 could mean more group homes with loose oversight.
He also said residents and other elected officials are raising concerns over the proposition.
“This is something that we hear from residents all the time about – I know that a lot of cities do because I talk to council members up and down the coast and inland a bit as well. If they’re not concerned about it yet, they certainly will be as they proliferate with bond financing,” O’Neill said.
The Newport Beach councilman said the state’s existing group home rules make it tough for cities – especially when the homes are tied to mandatory housing plans.
“The big challenge when it comes to having those discussions with Housing and Community Development (Department) is every letter I have seen in response to a Coastal Orange County city has been to reference the need to have a more inclusive ordinance to allow for more rehab homes in neighborhoods,” O’Neill said.
But State Senator Umberg said he doesn’t share the same concerns about Prop 1 and group homes, adding that the situation of lax oversight is exactly what his bill is trying to address.
“I think this helps with enforcement and I’m hopeful cities will be able to use this as a tool,” Umberg said. “There’s always a fear amongst cities that the state’s going to come in and impose land use requirements and other requirements that supersede what the neighborhoods may think, that’s a major concern. I don’t have that same trepidation.”
He added, “My job is to be responsive to the concerns of cities and neighborhoods. So if there’s something that’s an unintended consequence, it’s my job to address it.”
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.
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