And most of my conversations are taking place with my contemporaries in the recovery home business.
Many of them fear what will take place if the proposed zoning changes are put into law. And rightfully so.
Some of the changes the city is proposing border on the ridiculous.
For example, the city wants to get involved in the internal workings of recovery homes and so-called halfway houses.
One of their proposals is that all managers have a high school diploma or GED. However, they have no explanation of how this would help addicts and alcoholics with their recovery. Another proposal is that they want managers on duty 24 hours a day, but they don't say who's going to pay their wages or what purpose it would serve.
Another idea they're putting forward is that halfway house managers must have no criminal convictions or arrests in the previous five years. Now everyone knows that addicts get in trouble, either for dealing drugs or stealing to support their drug habit. The city has no suggestions about where one finds "nice" alcoholics and addicts who haven't been in trouble with the law because of their addiction.
Other aspects of the city's proposed changes include creating mountains of paperwork and reports. The reports include such things as how many 12 step meetings the house members attend, how often the residents get drug tested, policies for dealing with discharges and problems with neighbors and on and on.
In my opinion, all of these extra layers of bureaucracy the city is attempting to impose on recovery homes is really a way to prevent them from operating. I've never heard of the state of Arizona or any city in the state providing funding for the operation of halfway houses or recovery homes. My belief is that the city's goal – supported by the neighborhood groups that are pushing the politicians – is to simply overwhelm recovery home operators with so much bureaucracy and regulation that they can't afford to operate.
However, I believe that this discrimination that will prevent addicts and alcoholics from getting the help they need will eventually be overturned by the higher courts.
If one looks closely at this move to regulate halfway houses out of business they will discover that it's really all about fear and money. Neighbors and homeowners, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, fear that halfway houses and recovery programs will lower property values.
However, studies across the United States have shown that these are groundless fears. Another common fear is that halfway house residents will increase the crime rates in the community – another fear that has proved groundless on more than one occasion. In fact, in 1998 when we were suing the city of Mesa a study was done about police calls in the areas of our halfway houses. The study showed that there was no difference in numbers of police calls around our houses than there were in any other area of the city. An interesting result of the study showed that the most police calls came from neighborhoods where a convenience store was located.
It's really sad that on one hand, the media laments the number of deaths due to the opioid crisis – while at the same time the government is doing everything it can to squash the recovery programs that are helping to save the lives of addicts and alcoholics.
Click here to email John
