The addicts in our program sometimes try to change the rules after they’re here a while. This happened again this week when a client who owed over $500 didn't bring his paycheck to the office as he agreed to do when he entered TLC. Instead of bringing it to the office, he cashed it elsewhere, and then gave us $150.
When told he'd have to leave for breaking the rules, he refused. Because he'd just paid $150 he argued that he'd "paid his rent" and therefore we’d have to evict him. When we asked the police to have him removed from the property they agreed with him.
They said that we'd have to evict him under the landlord tenant act provisions. Our manager disagreed, but because it was late at night and the police legal department was closed we allowed the man to stay.
The next day the police legal department agreed with us. They said he was trespassing and would have to leave.
To those not familiar with our recovery program this might seem strange. After all, the man paid his "rent." But he didn't pay rent because we don't rent rooms or apartments. We offer a recovery programs to addicts and alcoholics – which is a service. Services don't fall under the mandates of the Arizona Landlord Tenant Act. And everyone who enters TLC signs an agreement saying they'll bring their checks to the office until they catch up on their service fees.
And this man- as the police were escorting him off the property- was protesting loudly that we weren’t “professionals” just a “bunch of unqualified addicts” trying to help people get sober.
And he was right; that’s exactly who we are and what we do.
No comments:
Post a Comment