A bill moving through the California legislature would allow housing and shelters that require residents to remain sober to receive state homelessness funds.
Right now, the state funds residential centers that do not require residents to remain sober, though most ban using drugs or alcohol onsite. State leaders say this Housing First policy allows people to fulfill basic needs before attempting recovery.
San Francisco Democratic Assembly member Matt Haney authored Assembly Bill 255, which would allow no more than 25% of state homelessness funding to go to sober-living programs.
“This is as common sense as it gets,” he said at a press conference in San Francisco on Monday. “People who want to get off drugs shouldn't be placed just in places where there's drug use.”
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is sponsoring the bill and also spoke in support of it.
“These residences will support people in recovery, even those who relapse, by offering a stable, abstinence-based environment,” he said. “We must expand, not limit the types of support we offer.”
The bill would require sober-living programs to help residents find alternative housing if they choose to leave or are evicted due to its sobriety policy.
Ned Resnikoff is a fellow at the liberal think tank the Roosevelt Institute, and he said that might not be realistic with the current housing shortage.
“If you actually are following housing first and someone violates the rules of a sober residence, then you need to be able to place them somewhere else in the system,” he said. “Right now, we're in a situation where, as it is, we just really don't have enough housing — period — for everyone who we need to house.”
Scott Richards is the CEO of Saint John’s Program for Real Change — a Sacramento nonprofit that operates several housing programs for formerly homeless residents. Saint John’s programs mostly require sobriety.
“There’s not a real, single solution to this, although this is a community issue, when you talk about homelessness, it’s still an individual issue,” he said.
He added Saint John’s doesn’t go after certain state funding because of the state’s current policy of not funding sober-living centers.
Haney authored a similar bill last year that died in committee.
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