Constituent Comments on Sober Living Home Problems

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

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 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 seventh group of these constituent letters below:

I am a proud Southern California native, educated in our fine public elementary schools, and hold degrees from the University of Southern California. After living in and working in most of the nation's major metropolitan cities, I was fortunate to find my slice of paradise in Huntington Beach 30 years ago. Living in the downtown area has been a wonderful place full of life, activity, and best of all a close-knit neighborhood family. In downtown, our homes, due to the very close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, are extremely close--it is akin to living in a sliver of land separated giant condominium complex. My house, the oldest in my neighborhood is unique for many reasons, one reason that has only recently become an unbearable issue is that all of our rooms are directly within 6-8' from the rooms of the SLH next door. Therefore, my teenage daughter's bedroom is within 6 to 8' of the SLH kitchen, eating area and side outdoor patio. In essence, we hear everything--conversations, fights, fits, paramedics speaking to the hospital when there is an overdose, slamming doors at all hours of the day and night, sexual positions and experiences of the ``clients,'' each and every way known to smoke, snort, inject, drink, any and all substances and the last time used (usually within that day). I could sum up the last 25 years of living in my neighborhood in one sentence--a wonderful place to live. Unfortunately, with the disaster that has been forced upon us by greed and inaction, I can no longer sum it up as wonderful, but quite the opposite. I will try to keep this as succinct as possible, but the only real way to keep it succinct is for all of you to come and live in my house for a day--it's as far away from wonderful now as I can reasonably imagine.

So, I write this as a fed-up homeowner, parent who can no longer feel safe for my daughter, active community member who has no answers because our city leadership is hog-tied by bureaucracy, and as an elected school board trustee for the Huntington Beach City School District who sees the impact to our district. So, I see this issue from many different perspectives.

In summary:

Homeowner/resident/parent/human:

My house has been relegated nearly worthless. I tried to sell and only received very low offers because no person in their right mind wants to live in my situation. No one needs to disclose next door is a SLH, there are throngs of men and women loitering both front, back, across the street, all over the street smoking, using foul language, and usually at least monthly there is an overdose, so we often wake up to sirens and the conversations regarding the entire incident. This has become so bad that my daughter now is living primarily out of the house because she is afraid to walk in the front door, won't be home alone, cannot sleep or study from the smoke and noise, she's been cat-called walking home from school, had unimaginable things said to her right in front of me and when I have confronted these people, I was told to ``be careful bitch, we'll burn your house down with you in it.'' So now my daughter is too afraid to sleep here at night because she has nightmares of being burned in the house alive. I've paid hundreds of dollars in vet bills because they toss their cigarette butts into my side yard, and if I can't get to them fast enough my dog has eaten them and become toxic to her (dog is only 9 lbs). My trash bins are filled and spilled over with the most disgusting trash--we now have rats. Our sidewalks are littered with hundreds of cigarettes and trash and when I have asked these people or their visitors to please put the trash in a trash can not the street, my car was keyed. I've had both the front and back of my car destroyed from these folks driving out of state cars DUI and crashing into my parked car. When I called the owner of the house to complain (note: none of the owners of these houses live anywhere in Huntington Beach), he told me that he would be working on buying the house on the other side of me to make sure to ``squeeze me out'' and ``shut me up,'' Apparently, it appears he's going to win. We have these houses in multitudes in my neighborhood, all of them have multiple issues and now seeing an OD HBPD/HBFD call is nearly a daily occurrence. I've had so much angst and anxiety over just living here and what are we going to have to deal with and live through today it's taken a toll on my health, and certainly my daughter's. Why do they have more rights than my child does?

As a school board member, we are always working to ensure our children and community safe, clean schools, and an excellent education. We also look forward at our demographics and enrollment to properly prepare. We have planned for some declining enrollment, but families in our district schools, primarily in our largest elementary and middle school, which serve the downtown neighborhood are losing enrollment at an alarming rate due to families moving completely out of Huntington Beach because of this SLH issue. There are at least 4 SLH homes that are directly in the walking path to both the elementary and middle school that hundreds of small children walk through that now on a daily basis are forced to walk through groups of SLH ``clients'' smoking, spitting, urinating, shooting drugs on the sidewalk, using unimaginable language, cat-calling young girls, loud foul language music. I've had parents crying and children scared to go to school-- not of school but getting to and from school. So, our planned attrition in those schools has more than doubled our research and it is primarily because these families no longer feel safe and that our city has any interest in their well-being. So, in most cases, they take a large loss on their home value and leave. The vandalism and theft of our schools has increased as well.

I want to make it very clear that I am an advocate that anyone that needs help should be able to get the help they need. However, these SLH homes are not helping these people who desperately need it, they are not-so-well-hidden drug dens that are destroying our neighborhoods. They need quality, medically-supervised help and counseling--not a frat-house for drugs with absolutely no oversight, no counseling, no supervision. The current SLH next door to me is now both male and female and has at least 12 but up to 15 people. If I am being forced to pay through taxes and increased insurance premiums to cover this care, then please get them the help they desperately need--and what has been going on here is certainly not help--it's a greed grab to the detriment of both the neighborhoods and the people who are seeking help. There is a reason all other states have curbed this process--for as impossible as it is to do business in California, it is inconceivable that this industry remains without any regulations, still allow un-checked body brokering, curbing, cross-state human commerce.

I will end with this--I am tired of hearing that we are just complaining because of NIMBY. This is NOT a NIMBY issue. This madness and crisis is NOT in my backyard. It is in my backyard, my front yard, my side yard, inside my house. So, I would like to ask that if our elected officials from Washington to the California Legislature continue to refuse to do anything and continue to deny allowing our elected City officials to govern Huntington Beach as local governing bodies were intended for, then please, I beg of you . . . buy my house because no one else will but another SLH. If I can be of any help to you, please do not hesitate to contact me. I think I speak for all of us--we want help for those that need help, but appropriate help in the appropriate locations--because what is going on is a lose-lose for everyone BUT the unscrupulous operators and landlords. But the biggest losers are our neighborhood children. Bridget Kaub, Huntington Beach, California. ____

We have had up to 3 sober living facilities move into our quiet single-family neighborhood. It has been a nightmare. Our children walk past these residences and live next door to many of them. They have parties, horrible language, hookers show up, police visits, etc. I have found syringes in my yard, weed on my front and cigarettes everywhere. They speed through the neighborhoods and we have a constant rotation of individuals. Plus, we now have tons of new cars parking on the streets. Tattooing in the garages. There are often more than 6 people. Vans roll up daily and they all hang out waiting to load up. Smoking looking like they rolled in from Compton. My daughter has a daily glimpse of their underwear as their pants barely cover anything. Cars drive up dropping off suitcases and dogs almost weekly. We have only seen them drug testing once. I grew up in this neighborhood but worry daily about our safety and my daughter when she needs to take the bus. I believe that this has also brought in the rash of individuals now parking in the neighborhood sleeping nightly in their cars. Something needs to be done quickly. You have homes well over a million dollars paying taxes and waking up daily to these situations. Amy Santos, Huntington Beach, California. ____

We want our neighborhood back. In the last couple years, it seem the city of Huntington Beach has opened the doors to the sleazy businesses with little to no regulation required. Most aren't even licensed. There are no less than 8 within two blocks of my house. I live in the south east neighborhood of downtown Huntington Beach. We have had at least two overdoses/deaths in the nearby homes. We constantly see shady behaviors, loitering on our sidewalks, trash, drugs, drug paraphernalia, needles not to mention smoking outdoors so we all can inhale. The traffic from their transportation vehicles is excessive not to mention the countless Uber/Lyft rides coming and going at all hours of the day/night. My 13- year-old daughter and friends are intimidated by the shady characters as they walk by being verbally harassed and googled by them. These people don't come from our neighborhood and most aren't even from this area or state. They import them from out of area to come ``vacation'' in our city. Once money runs out or the insurance stops paying for this scam they are left on the streets and join the ever- increasing population of homeless. This is a HUGE problem and our government needs to impose strict regulations on the SLH's. It's a scam for insurance companies and it's a scam that these so-called businessmen take these desperate people's money for nothing. In turn these business men have become rich and are expanding operations exponentially. Please do something! These are neighborhoods not the place to conduct business or run a so-called detox hospital from a multimillion dollar house. Doug Daniels, Huntington Beach, California. ____

Today I'm writing this letter not only for me and my family but for all the family's in Huntington Beach whose lives have been yanked out from under them.

I've always lived in Huntington Beach and I can't believe how fast our lovely beach town has gone down the drain. We moved about 7 years ago to a bigger house that's close to where the neighbors all BBQ together, look out for each other and just enjoy the quietness, the smell of the ocean, the perfect place to raise our kids. This may sound silly, but Huntington Beach used to feel like we were all one big happy family. We moved out of our old house because of a guy that was hooked on Crystal Meth. Our kids were terrified of him. My daughter was having nightmares that this person was trying to murder me. So, my husband got 2 large dogs and when we found this house and this neighborhood we fell in love with it and moved.

Three years ago, the house next door went up for sale and these ``nice guys'' lied of course because that's what addicts do and said their daughters or sons were moving in. My husband owns a roofing company and ended up doing the roof for the new owner. Come to find out he has several homes here in H.B. He lives in Atascadero. He's an investor. He doesn't care about our neighborhoods. He doesn't have to live here. So, he's making a ton of money leasing these houses out to so-called sober living homes. The residents of Huntington Beach are paying our hard-earned money, paying high property taxes so these leaches prey on parents who would do anything to get their child well. So, these SLH's are getting money from the federal government, state government and insurance companies. Greedy people that couldn't care less about these kids. They do ``curb'' them when the money runs out. We've seen it happen many times. Now they have nowhere to go but to the streets. Now our cars are being stolen or broken into. Our kids bikes--well I everyone's bikes are being stolen. The crime here and homelessness is over whelming! And the police can do nothing about it because their hands are tied but they will turn around and arrest a homeowner for having a loud party. Come on. Where is the justice? Our police and our City Council should be protecting us and our children. Yes us . . . the tax payers. It seems that we have no one around here looking out for us and it's honestly hard to wrap our heads around. We can't leave our windows open because of the cigarette smoke, marijuana smell, loud fights, cussing like you would not believe. Cigarette butts and trash and; hypodermic needles on our property and all over our poor community. We can't enjoy our rooftop deck anymore for the above reasons. The overdoses and ambulances that my 3 kids have witnessed is beyond horrible. We, our community, are prisoners in our own homes. Some of the residents next-door told my neighbor that they were going to burn her house down with her in it! Come on. This has got to stop! Don't we have any rights? How about our children? Would you want to have drug deals and drug houses with people you really have no idea what their story is. These places move out in the middle of the night and you guessed it. A new SLH moves in. We don't see them going to meetings or anything. No medical staff on sight. Body brokering kids for MONEY. Then kick the kids to the curb while they drive their Tesla's and Bentley's. Our kids try and go to sleep at night because they have school in the morning and it's impossible most nights due to the screaming and cussing. I do believe that people need help and the ones that really want it, deserve the right help. But not right smack in the middle of our residential neighborhoods. We live across the street from a bar and a liquor store! Who in their right mind would seriously think that a great place for a SLH? And I'm not exaggerating when I tell you there are at least 4 or 5 on almost all the streets in the numbered blocks. And nothing can be done because ``they'' are protected. Please let it be our turn to be protected again. Let the people that need help go to a real Detox and recovery home. I've heard the Betty Ford Center and Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach have wonderful dependency programs and they CARE about the people that are there to get help. Many places are available for people to get real help. And I doubt that would be across from a bar and liquor store. Or around a lot of innocent children and families. We are trying to teach our kids not to steal and to care about others, not to be afraid of all the strangers. We are just trying to keep our children away from drugs and alcohol and needles. There is a place for recovery it's just not in our residential neighborhoods.

This is really a plea for help and I hope we get some help soon because it's just getting worse every day. Bobby Taylor, Huntington Beach, California.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source