HEALTH

Arizona's booming sober-home industry gets new oversight

The Republic | azcentral.com

Sober homes that provide people a place to live while recovering from drug and alcohol addiction will be subject to licensing and increased regulatory oversight by the state under a new law.

Senate Bill 1465 will require sober homes to become licensed within 90 days after the Arizona Department of Health Services establishes licensing rules.

The bill, signed by Gov. Doug Ducey on Wednesday, aims to thread the needle between neighborhood groups that want tighter oversight of residential homes and sober-home operators that provide housing for people in recovery.

Sober homes have proliferated in many metro Phoenix neighborhoods as the drug-rehabilitation industry has boomed during the opioid epidemic. These homes often work in tandem with drug detoxification and rehab centers. People detox from drugs or alcohol and are transferred to sober homes where they live while they continue outpatient therapy.

Neighbors of these homes in Prescott, Phoenix, Scottsdale and other communities have complained about activity associated with some homes.

But lawmakers say that SB 1465 will weed out the bad operators through licensing and increased oversight.

"Once we get these homes under these standards for a high quality of care, a lot of these problems are going to go away," said Rep. Noel Campbell, R-Prescott, who co-sponsored SB 1465.

After fielding complaints from Prescott residents about the proliferation of such homes, Campbell sponsored legislation in 2016 that allowed cities and counties to register sober homes. Prescott became the first city in Arizona to regulate sober homes last year.

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Campbell said statewide licensing will ensure sober homes are properly run, accountable to neighbors and subject to inspection.

The Arizona Department of Health Services will be able to share the location of sober homes with local municipalities for the purpose of zoning purposes. While cities and counties can disclose the location of sober homes to the public, these municipalities will be prohibited from sharing this information with the public.

The Arizona House and Senate have passed a patient-brokering bill that would prohibit rehab homes from paying fees or kickbacks to recruit patients. The bill was transmitted to Ducey this week.

The bill also would forbid people from soliciting or accepting payments from rehab or other health-care facilities in exchange for delivering patients.

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