The Mission Viejo City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Aug. 23 requiring sober living, or group homes to register with the city.
These group homes that house six or fewer people who are exiting drug rehabilitation programs now must send an application to the city with the operator’s contact information.
The ordinance comes after a growing concern from residents that these homes are “disruptive” and “blighting for a neighborhood and to the community,” according to city staff.
“We don’t have any sort of registry. People say how many [sober living homes] do you have or where are they? Unless the neighbor tells us, we don’t know,” City Attorney William Curley said at the meeting.
Creating a registry, establishing closer relations to the sober living homes, their owners, and management, and knowing where they’re located is the first step to better-managed homes, Curley said.
Curley said under the Americans with Disabilities Act, alcoholics and drug addicts are considered handicapped, granting them federal protections.
“That puts a whole lot of hands off on what cities can do,” he said, adding that many attempts over the years by cities to gain more control over these homes have “failed miserably.”
He said the ordinance will help when a neighbor calls and reports a problem regarding a group home, the city will be able to contact its operator directly.
The ordinance is a result of recent town hall and roundtable meetings co-chaired by Sen. Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) and Mayor Wendy Bucknum, alongside a panel of experts, studying policies that could mitigate the negative impacts of sober living homes on neighborhoods as mentioned by residents.
Some of the issues neighboring residents of these sober living brought up during the Aug. 3 roundtable include recovering addicts throwing up outside, trying to enter the wrong house, and trash on the street, among others.
The mayor said at the council meeting that city officials are motivated by a desire to ensure patients in these homes are properly tended to and don’t end up on the street, something that happens often.
