A NEW LEGISLATIVE PUSH kicked off Monday in San Francisco to increase state support for housing assistance that requires sobriety.
A bill authored by Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, would establish a process to remove someone who violated voluntary sobriety requirements from such housing by providing them other housing options.
A similar bill last year from Haney passed both chambers of the legislature unanimously but was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
That bill, Assembly Bill 255, carved out an allowance for recipients of state housing grants to use money for programs that require sobriety as a condition of receiving supportive housing assistance, something previously prohibited by the state. Newsom vetoed the bill because he said it would have created a new category of housing that required certification from a third party that would not be cost effective. He also said there were already allowances for sober housing providers to receive state funding if they did not evict residents for relapsing.
Supportive housing is designed for people experiencing homelessness and any overlapping issues such as substance use and mental or behavior health issues that create additional challenges to exiting homelessness. Support includes a range of onsite services such as case management, medication assisted treatment, employment assistance, counseling, and other care.
Newsom’s veto came the same day that the state Department of Homelessness and Community Development issued new guidance allowing sober living environments to receive funding if there was no penalty of eviction for someone who relapsed into substance use.
Haney said Monday at a press conference at a sober living apartment complex called Wells Place in the Marina District operated by the Salvation Army that the new bill, Assembly Bill 1556, would provide a process to both support someone who wanted to remain sober after a relapse, or place them in alternative housing if they chose not to.
A person who refused both options could be evicted back to the street, according to the legislation.
“People want this opportunity,” Haney said during the press conference. “They want to live in housing where they receive the support to be off of and away from drugs with people who will support them in that process.”
Such supports include their peers, others who are also fighting towards recovery, and staff — like at Salvation Army — who are supporting them in doing that, Haney said.
“Right now, the state isn’t investing in them,” he added.
How the bill would handle relapse
Haney said one of the main goals of such housing options was to support people who want to remove substance use from their living environment to improve their own chances of remaining sober.
The bill centers around establishing a written, standardized “return to use” policy that outlines steps sober housing providers would take if someone returns to using a substance that a person is voluntarily trying to quit. Those steps would include offering the person a chance to create a plan to remain sober and remain in the housing complex, or find them alternative housing.
The supportive housing program would be required to offer the person a range of options to comply with the sobriety requirements through peer support, medicated assisted treatment, or professional referrals to additional care.
A person who did not want to create a plan to return to sobriety would be offered alternative, permanent supportive housing, according to Haney.
The new bill requires the “return to use” policy to be approved by the National Alliance for Recovery Residences (NARR), a nonprofit organization that advocates for housing dedicated to recovery from substance abuse, and creating common standards around such housing, according to its website.
The legislation is supported by San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, Supervisor Matt Dorsey, and Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, D-San Francisco. It is also being championed by the Bay Area Council, a nonprofit organization that last month named former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to be its new CEO.
The Salvation Army operates Wells Place at the former Marina Inn on Octavia Street as a two-year supportive housing option for people experiencing homelessness who have completed substance use treatment and want to remain sober. Onsite case managers, support groups, and connections to services are available to help residents make progress in their goals of recovery and stability, according to the organization’s website.
“This is not to put anyone on the street, this is to enforce and make stable places for people who are fighting for sobriety for their lives every day.”
Cedric Akbar, co-founder of Positive Directions Equals Change
Salvation Army San Francisco Divisional Commander Major Michael Zielinski said Haney’s bill will let the organization strengthen and expand its programs and seek more stable state funding.
“We believe that Wells Place can be seen as a model of recovery,” Zielinski said. “We see this as an abstinence-based housing facility that reaches out to folks that have already moved through the recovery process and are looking for that next step on the way to self-sufficiency.”
Cedric Akbar, co-founder of a local nonprofit organization Positive Directions Equals Change, addressed worries he said were expressed by some homeless advocates that the bill would punish people who relapse into substance use.
“It does not,” Akbar said. “Because as long as I’m a part of this, anyone that relapses will go to a different level of care and we will maintain their housing. This is not to put anyone on the street, this is to enforce and make stable places for people who are fighting for sobriety for their lives every day.”
The bill has advanced through its first committees and will be heard by the Assembly Appropriations Committee in the coming weeks.