[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 167 (Tuesday, October 9, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1383-E1385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONSTITUENT COMMENTS ON SOBER LIVING HOME PROBLEMS
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HON. DANA ROHRABACHER
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I rise again regarding the hearing held
by the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice on
September 28, 2018 on the issue of sober living homes. At that hearing,
I had the privilege of testifying at that hearing in support of my
bill, H.R. 5724, to restore local oversight over sober living homes. As
part of my testimony, I submitted to the Subcommittee letters from many
of my constituents about problems with sober living homes caused by
current federal law preventing appropriate local oversight. For the
benefit of my colleagues and the American people, I include in the
Record the second group of these constituent letters:
In mid-February the home next door was sold to a LLC. The
home was converted to a sober living home. I do not know how
many men live at the facility but notice that new men are
coming and going all day. There are different cars parked
weekly. I hope none of these men have criminal backgrounds.
Have cut down going outside the home. Stopped the evening
walk. Have an ADT security system and installed motion lights
all around the home.
Initially they smoked cigarettes in the backyard and we
lost all use of our backyard. On constant complaining to
[REDACTED] they moved the smoking to the other side of the
home. It did not help much as now they had begun to smoke e-
cigarettes and vaping also. The smell in our home is
terrible. We use Hepa filter air purifiers in the home. Keep
half the home windows closed. Our home has become more of a
prison. My husband and I have chronic multiple health issues.
The smoke and e cigarette pollutants cause me to have a
constant cough, irritated nose, burning eyes and sometimes
headaches. I wear a N99 pollution mask all day in the home. I
daily leave the home for a few hours to take the mask off. I
also try to spend a night or two outside the home. When the
symptoms get further aggravated I get checked by my
Physician. I last visited him on August 31, 2018. It affects
me more than my husband.
These homes are built for single family use and not for
group smoking and vaping. Our family room and sober living
home family room is 10 feet apart. My husband and I are
covered under the ADA, we are covered but not the facility
and medical personnel we use. The addict should be covered
under the ADA but why are the owners and medical personnel
covered also.
A few years back every residential neighborhood in
Huntington Beach had a park and school. Today every
residential neighborhood has a few sober living home/detox
facilities. Schools are closing, and many parks are unsafe
for children.
Joti Ghuman,
Huntington Beach, California.
____
Since having a sober living home open nearly behind my
home, the quality of life in this neighborhood has
deteriorated greatly. What has been a quiet neighborhood
where people feel safe to live their lives, raise their
children, and go about their daily lives in a secure
environment has changed. Now I need to be certain every night
that every door and window in my home is locked and secure.
We had an incident in which drug users from the sober living
home ran from the police through not only my but several
neighbor's yards, with police searching through those yards
at 2 am, with the suspects attempting to enter at least one
home in the attempt to evade police. Many neighbors speak of
seeing people committing suspicious activities in on the
grounds of the local school, which is approximately three
homes away from the sober living home. Many neighbors are so
anxious about the deterioration of the neighborhood that they
are selling their homes, with many others discussing doing so
as well. We need more oversight as to who manages these
homes, as I understand, the one in my neighborhood is managed
by an individual with multiple felonies. This is insane, and
regulations need to be implemented. Thank you for reading my
issues.
Edward Skelton,
Huntington Beach, California.
____
I live a few houses away from a sober living home where
drug use has gone on there. Even worse someone from there
entered another person's home on our block in the middle of
the night. It saddens me that there is not much regulation
regarding these homes and they can just open anywhere. We
have families with little kids in the area and a school down
the street from us. These homes need to be regulated and
their clients properly cared for. There should be proof that
patients are benefiting from these homes before we spend all
this money to make owners of them rich, while everyone
suffers including the community.
Gina MacDonald,
Huntington Beach, California.
____
We live in a town house in Aliso Viejo, California. Our
walls are connected to other homes on both sides. In 2015/
2016 one of our neighbors moved out and turned her home into
a sober living home. For almost 2 years we lived in constant
fear of the revolving door of people going in and out of that
house.
During that time, we (and our neighbors) had to call the
Orange County Sheriff's Department because of numerous
violent fights, at all hours of the night. My girlfriend
witnessed an individual who seemed to have overdosed in front
of our garage. There were numerous fights, strange chemical
smells coming out of the house, sheriffs and other emergency
vehicles constantly next door. Residents would wander the
neighborhood and at hours of the day and just stand outside
our home, looking right into our windows. We had to lock our
doors, close the blinds and request that they smoke down the
street. We are still worried that methamphetamine was
possibly being cooked and was the source of the chemical
smells coming from inside the home. Again, we share a wall
and we worry about possible long-term risks of exposure.
At one time, the boyfriend of one of the residents was
wanted by the United States Marine Corps. The home owner
stopped by our home and provided me the investigators
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phone number. We had strict instructions to call her if we
ever saw him at the house. Why are we responsible for this?
Two separate nights, someone from this house tried to walk
into our house. Luckily our front door was locked, and they
just slammed into the door.
In late 2016, one of the residents passed away inside the
home.
The home is still some kind of a ``facility'' for people
with problems but we have not had the problems that occurred
in 2015-2016. The current residents are nice but due to the
constant change of occupants, we still live in fear that
something could happen at any time. It's been almost 4 years
of hell and I think it is unacceptable that the state allows
someone to open a place like this, with little to no
restrictions and the neighborhood has no rights or protection
against this from happening.
No family should live in fear due to someone else's greed.
We talked to the city, HOA and Sheriff's department multiple
times and all said that there was nothing they could do to
help. They wanted to help but said the state says this is ok.
Although we understand that people need help, but our safety
and peace of mind should not be sacrificed. That is our story
and can back it up with emails to our HOA every time an
incident happened.
Albert Francis,
Aliso Viejo, California.
____
My name is Virginia Mccoy, mother of four children, wife of
a police officer, and a positive role model in my community
in Huntington Beach, CA.
I live across the street from our public middle school, and
directly diagonal to a new sober living house. Unfortunately,
the house is not sober, and is impeding on the safety and
happiness in our neighborhood. Drugs, alcohol, speeding, and
the lack of respect to neighbors has truly put a stain on our
once wonderful family neighborhood.
I am no longer comfortable letting my 14-year-old daughter
ride her bike in the neighborhood, walk our family dog, or
walk to her friend's home down the street. Just today,
September 5, 2018, was the first day of school, witnessed
many parents drop their child off right in front of this
``Sober Living House.'' The fact that parents have no idea
that just a couple weeks ago the occupants along with others
were smoking heroine, were chased by police, broke into a
neighbor's home, and were never caught, is truly terrifying.
I urge and plead for firm regulation and stricter laws to
combat fraudulent sober living homes, protect our
neighborhoods, and protect children in school neighborhoods.
Virginia Mccoy,
Huntington Beach, California.
____
There are two SLHs in our neighborhood in Huntington Beach
near [ADDRESS]. One of these is our neighboring house that
was occupied earlier this year. Our neighbor of forty years
died, and her children sold the home.
Since the SLH has been occupied we have been impacted by
constant cigarette smoke and vape vapor. Our incessant
complaints to the owner's manager have mitigated the smoked
vapors to the point where it is less frequently noted. This
has not however reduced our health impacts. My wife has
constant complaint of itching eyes and irritated throat. She
has now been coughing for over two months with some bouts
that are persistent over many minutes. During a doctor visit
last week she was advised to reduce in-house irritants.
My allergies have been exasperated since the SLH facility
has moved in. Incidents of running nose and coughing have
increased and I now have daily bouts of sneezing.
After having lived in our house for over forty years we are
now confronting a situation where our neighbors are impacting
our health making it impossible to peacefully enjoy our home.
The occupants of the SLH are transient who have shown no
interest in any involvement in the neighborhood. We do not
know who the occupants are, or many people live there.
We hope you are able to use our experience in providing
input to any congressional hearing on the subject.
Opjit Ghuman,
Huntington Beach, California.
____
I have lived in my home since 1966. With two different 4-
year breaks. My husband, Marc, and I have lived here
continuously since March of 1988. I was raised in this home
and we have raised our two daughters here, also. We have a
lovely neighborhood and fantastic neighbors. Most of whom
have also lived here for more than a decade. I have been very
involved with [REDACTED] school as a volunteer in various
capacities including PTSA President.
In recent months it has come to our attention that
[ADDRESS] is no longer a family home. It is now a DETOX
CENTER. How do I know? Diligent research by myself and other
neighbors.
Drug Incident: The research began in depth after very
disturbing events in the early morning hours of Friday,
August 24, 2018 approximately 1:40 am at [ADDRESS]. The same
early morning, the Huntington Beach Police were summoned to
the sidewalk next to [ADDRESS] after another neighbor
witnessed drugs being cooked and shot-up. The suspects
scattered, and two males ran into the side yard of [ADDRESS]
and hopped backyards between the homes on [ADDRESS]. Camera
surveillance is available from the backyard of [ADDRESS] and
front door of [ADDRESS]. There was a backpack abandoned on
the side walk next to [ADDRESS] that contained a significant
amount of drugs. Camera footage available from [ADDRESS].
HBPD Case No. [REDACTED].
Pit Bull Incident: Monday August 27, 2018 my neighbor
[NAME] was prevented from exiting her car in her driveway at
[ADDRESS] because of a barking pit bull on her property. She
pulled into my driveway and into my home to ask me to whom
the pit bull belonged. I told her it belonged to [ADDRESS].
We proceeded to call Animal Control after witnessing the dog
roam across the street and down to the corner, barking the
entire time at anyone it saw. I have video of the Pit bull
charging into the street towards me while I am near my front
door. When Officer [NAME] from Animal Control arrived, the
dog continued to bark and began growling repeatedly. Officer
[NAME] told me that this dog was in violation of Cade 41-51
Protection From Animals and was a misdemeanor offense. I have
copies available of the neighbor statements regarding
violation [REDACTED].
Research: Research has revealed that the house at [ADDRESS]
is now owned by [NAME] is listed as principle. [NAME]
purchased this house on [ADDRESS].
Resident of the home (believed to be a House Manager) is
[NAME]. [NAME] has an extensive criminal past including
multiple drug charges, multiple DUis and was most recently
imprisoned for securities fraud. [NAME] is currently on
parole. How do we know that? His parole officer knocked on
the incorrect door and demanded to speak with [NAME}. [NAME]
said that she did not know [NAME]. The PO eventually realized
her mistake and knocked at [ADDRESS]. No one answered. [NAME]
is the owner of the pit bull reported to animal control.
[NAME]'s codefendant in the securities fraud case [REDACTED],
has been at [ADDRESS] at least three times.
THIS DETOX HOUSE HAS AFFECTED MY FAMILY IN THE FOLLOWING
WAYS:
I CAN NO LONGER SLEEP WITH MY WINDOWS OPEN.
I CAN NO LONGER ALLOW MY GRANDNIECE AND GRANDNEPHEW TO WALK
TO AND FROM THEIR HOME TO MINE (3 HOUSES) WITHOUT DIRECT
SUPERVISION.
I AM CONSTANTLY LOOKING FOR ANYTHING THAT IS UNFAMILIAR IN
MY NEIGHBORHOOD.
I WORRY ABOUT MY NEIGHBORS.
I WORRY ABOUT THE SCHOOL CHILDREN THAT WALK TO [REDACTED]
SCHOOL ON MY STREET EVERY MORNING AND AFTERNOON.
I CANNOT SLEEP SOUNDLY.
I HAVE INSTALLED SECURITY CAMERAS.
I DO NOT FEEL SAFE.
Please allow our local government to have jurisdiction in
MY neighborhood. HBPD has yet to gather video evidence from
any neighbors regarding the drug charge. There is no
detective assigned to the case at present time.
Janet Cardenas,
Huntington Beach, California.
____
I wanted to share my opinion on the sober living homes. I
have lived in Costa Mesa for many years. The city has gone
through a major transformation due largely to the sober
living homes. There are young adults that now live on our
streets because they were ``bought'' from out of state, went
to a sober living home, and then kicked to the street when
the money ran out. They have no method to get home and mostly
return to drugs while they live on the streets. I saw a young
female crying sitting with her suitcase. Apparently, her time
was done at the sober living home, they would not help her
return home (out of state) and the people she was with robbed
her of her money and other possessions. We gave her the info
for Costa Mesa Homeless Network solutions. I live across the
street from a sober living home. The company was able to buy
a $925k home and the people that run it drive Audis, Jaguars,
and of course, there is the $80k Mercedes that shows up.
There are cars everywhere around this sober living home in
our neighborhood, there are often young males sitting in cars
in our neighborhood (sometimes for hours), and there are kids
smoking everywhere. I am appalled that this has continued to
exist. We are essentially allowing human trafficking to pay
these broker fees to feed enough people into their ``sober
living home factory''. They are supposed to help the tenants
return home, where they may have a support system. However,
that would cost them money; their only business is to make
money. I would ask a change in the law to state you must be a
resident of California for 12 months to enter a sober living
home here and there may be no exchange of ``broker'' fees to
buy bodies for their homes. We need to clean up our
neighborhoods. Crime has skyrocketed in our neighborhood. Our
mail is stolen, packages are stolen, cars are broken into,
and our homes are being broken into. We need to enact these
new requirements and the state must regulate them. They must
send in inspectors to make sure these homes are free of
drugs, the tenants are from California for the last 12
months, and that there was no money exchanged to find these
people. We have been essentially wasting tax money to make
our city less safe.
Erin Blancett,
Costa Mesa, California.
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