Santa Ana is joining a growing list of Orange County cities regulating problematic sober living homes amid complaints of open drug use, noise and other disturbances in the residential areas they’re located in.
Officials in Costa Mesa, Mission Viejo, Buena Park and Fountain Valley have all enacted their own policies to regulate these types of alcohol and drug addiction rehabilitation homes in recent years in an effort to quell residents’ complaints.
[Read: Orange County Cities Grapple With Drug Treatment Facilities]
While city officials throughout Orange County have noted the importance of such drug addiction treatment homes, they say tighter regulations are needed for problematic homes – businesses that overbook their services and don’t provide enough client oversight.
It’s an issue that’s also been heavily detailed by the OC Grand Jury in recent years, along with grand jurors finding an overconcentration of the homes in certain parts of the county.
Last week, Santa Ana City Council members voted unanimously to approve an ordinance establishing location, licensing, permitting and operational regulations for group homes in the city based on an ordinance in the neighboring city of Costa Mesa.
[Read: Santa Ana Looks to Crack Down on Problematic Sober Living Homes]
It comes after Costa Mesa officials successfully defended their own group home ordinances in December last year – paving the way for more cities to start tightening and implementing regulations on sober living homes.
[Read: Costa Mesa Scores Legal Victory in Sober Living Home Court Battle]
Councilman Phil Bacerra said Costa Mesa’s yearslong lawsuit laid the groundwork for them to create their own ordinance and thanked Councilman David Penaloza for bringing the issue to the council’s attention.
“Here we are today being able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, so to speak, in that now we have this ordinance that’s been battle tested in court,” Bacerra said at the Aug. 19 city council meeting.
“Now we can adopt it and make sure that our neighborhoods are in a situation where we don’t have these businesses running rampant, but at the same time making sure the folks that are in these sober living homes and these group homes are actually in facilities that are safe.”
The new ordinance in Santa Ana also comes two years after an OC Grand Jury report found that group homes often are located too close together and are a large source of neighborhood disruptions.
“Multiple cities in Orange County have attempted to manage integration of group homes into neighborhoods by enacting ordinances that include setting a minimum distance between group homes to avoid the problems associated with over-concentration,” reads the 2023 report.
“Most cities with such ordinances have not enforced them due to the fear of incurring litigation costs.”
Officials in Irvine are poised to be the next to join the growing pool of cities looking to crack down on problematic group homes after city leaders directed staff to research ordinances in other towns and bring back a proposal for them to consider at a future meeting.
[Read: Irvine Looks to Increase Enforcement For Sober Living Homes]
Some of Santa Ana’s Sober Living Homes Rules
Under the ordinance, group homes with 6 or less occupants will be allowed anywhere single-family homes are permitted in Santa Ana, while homes with more occupants will be limited to other areas.
The new rules also require 650-separation between group homes with seven or more people but not for group homes with six or less people in single-family zones.
Operators of group homes will also have to get a permit from the city.
A permit for a group home with six or less occupants will cost $3,886, while a permit for a group home with seven or more occupants will cost $2,480.
According to a staff report, there are roughly 74 known and suspected residential group homes and staff estimates to generate over $350,000 in revenue from the permits and an additional $17,000 annually in permit revenue after that.
To view the entire group home ordinance, click here.
More Local Oversight?
Santa Ana City Councilwoman Jessie Lopez said more regulations could be coming down from the state level on groups.
“I’m hopeful that with this now in place. It’ll help alleviate some of the issues,” she said at the Aug. 19 meeting about the city’s ordinance.
“Obviously, there’s still state bills that are pending that can be an added layer of protection, and those are a direct reflection, I like to think, anyway, of really the conversations that we have had with the state delegation.”
State legislators have been trying to boost local oversight of sober living homes and residential drug treatment centers with a host of new bills.
In March, State Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana) reintroduced a bill – SB35 – that would allow local jurisdictions to investigate sober living homes to ensure they are adhering to state regulations.
[Read: CA State Bill Looks to Give Cities Regulation Over Sober Living Homes]
Earlier this year, Assemblyman Avelino Valencia (D-Anaheim) introduced AB492 which requires state health officials to notify local leaders when a new treatment facility opens up shop in their jurisdiction.
The proposed legislation comes on the heels of voters across California narrowly approving last year Proposition 1 – a statewide ballot measure that authorizes $6.4 billion in bonds to create more housing for homeless people and drug treatment centers.
It also comes after California voters overwhelmingly approved Prop. 36 – a new unfunded law that aims to increase punishment on certain drug and theft crimes and is expected to increase the costs for prisons, jails and courts.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.