Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, stood with local leaders at San Francisco’s City Hall on Monday to promote new legislation that would allow 25% of state funds for recovery housing to go to drug-free housing options.
Assembly Bill 255 is Haney’s second attempt at changing recovery housing law, and it is a response to California’s Housing First policy adopted in 2016. That law required all state-funded homelessness programs to get people into homes as quickly as possible, without requiring sobriety or other barriers.
Haney said fentanyl is still the leading cause of death among people 18 to 44 in California, with over 7,000 overdose deaths across the state just last year from opioids. He said the Housing First policy had good intentions but is now standing in the way of drug-free choices.
“California’s laws right now prohibit any dollars for supportive housing to go for any housing that requires sobriety to enter. That is now out of step with federal Housing First guidelines,” Haney said, referring to President Obama’s change to guidelines that designated drug free recovery housing as a form of Housing First.
The money that comes from the state to San Francisco, for example, cannot be used for drug free recovery housing at all, said Haney.
He was joined Monday by San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, Jim Wunderman of the Bay Area Council, and Steve Adami, executive director of the Salvation Army’s The Way Out recovery-focused housing program. San Francisco Board of Supervisor President Rafael Mandelman introduced District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a recovering addict who is sponsoring a resolution at Tuesday’s board meeting in support of the bill.
“As I stand here today, I’ve got four years, six months, 28 days clean and sober,” said Dorsey. “Together, those of us in the recovery community know we’ve got today, and we’ve got each other.”
“Housing first is a worthy principle, but we have to honor the principle in 2015, when Barack Obama’s Housing and Urban Development Department talked about Housing First, it should include recovery and drug free options.”
Two people for every available recovery bed
According to Haney’s AB255 analysis, in 2016 the California Research Bureau estimated that there were at least 12,000 sober living beds, like those offered in recovery residences, serving an eligible population of between 25,000 and 35,000 individuals.
Before 2016 almost every single organization was a 12-step program, said Nate Allbee, spokesperson for Assemblymember Haney, referring to the sobriety treatment model. The 12-step or abstinence-based programs haven’t stopped existing, he said, they’ve just been on a lower budget.
“In California, since 2016, we have not given a dime to Salvation Army for this type of work,” Allbee said. With AB 255, he said, 25% of state recovery housing funds could go to sober housing. The remaining 75% could still be dedicated to harm reduction efforts, or Housing First.
“It’s part of recovery, relapsing a few times. What was happening before was people were going into housing, they were relapsing, and then they were getting kicked out onto the street.” Assemblymember Matt Haney
State recovery housing law applies to services that go to people who are getting out of jail or recently had an overdose and are getting out of hospitals and going through the first step of detox and recovery. That’s when they go into permanent supportive recovery housing. If the bill passes, cities like San Francisco will be able to award a quarter of state-funded recovery housing grants to organizations that provide sober housing. The rest would still fall under the Housing First model.
“It’s a reality that people relapse,” said Haney adding that his bill would not punish people for relapses. “It’s part of recovery, relapsing a few times. What was happening before was people were going into housing, they were relapsing, and then they were getting kicked out onto the street.”
Since 2020, San Francisco’ medical examiner has reported 3,580 deaths from accidental drug overdoses.
Of those deaths, 21% happened in permanent supportive housing, said Steve Adami, executive director of the Salvation Army’s The Way Out 12-step recovery housing program.
“Our mayor has doubled down on his belief that people can change and overcome addiction, and Assemblymember Haney’s bill braids perfectly with the mayor’s policies locally,” Adami said. “Why would we potentially want to put anybody that’s clean and sober inside a building where everybody is using drugs?”