A grand jury in Orange County is making a series of recommendations to grapple with the growing conflict between group treatment homes and neighbors in what is known as “The Rehab Riviera.”
Some of the most common complaints include noise, smoking, traffic, trash, relapses, vomit, and “curbing” – when residents are kicked out of a home for bad behavior or their source of payment runs out.
The panel was created in 2022 in response to numerous city council and town hall meetings in which residents complained of an “over-saturation” of group homes with very little oversight, according to the grand jury’s report which is titled “Welcome to the Neighborhood.”
“Orange County has some of the heaviest concentrations of group homes and sober living residences in the nation,” the panel said. “The densities are more than the local population can bear and residents believe the influx of the group home residents seriously impacts their neighborhoods.”
According to the California Department of Public Health, there are 1,864 rehab facilities in the state, and more than half are located in Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernadino and Riverside counties.
The panel says many of the homes are privately owned, unlicensed, unsupervised and difficult to regulate.
When ordinances are broken, the grand jury said cities are reluctant to crack down over the fear of costly litigation. Cities are also worried about losing state funding if they enact laws that limit or regulate these homes.
Among its recommendations, the grand jury says Orange County’s 34 cities should collaborate on ordinances, pool resources to defend themselves against lawsuits and do a better job lobbying for changes at the state level.
“The group home industry is immense, requires improved relations with cities, and needs more effective local governmental oversight,” the grand jury report concludes.
Cities have 90 days to respond to the panel’s recommendations.