Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘This floods streets with addicts’
Recovering addicts often receive treatment while living in sober homes or halfway houses, which are unregulated community housing protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The act was designed to protect recovering addicts from discrimination, but it also prevents cities from regulating, or even knowing how many homes are in their locale. The result, city officials say, is a glut of sober homes in their communities.
While it’s difficult to estimate the scope of the problem, more than a quarter of Florida’s approximately 750 treatment centers have locations in Palm Beach County, records show. The recovery industry is present throughout the county, including in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach and Palm Beach Gardens, but is more concentrated in certain cities.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office in Lake Worth estimates there are 300 sober homes in seven square miles, said Capt. Todd Baer, a deputy for Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office in Lake Worth.
“This floods the streets with addicts. Those who relapse, quit or fail the program, or lose insurance end up on the street,” Baer said.
Triolo, Lake Worth’s mayor, said she thinks more sober homes have opened in the city, partly because it may be cheaper than opening in other cities. “They wanted to go to those communities to create a seaside recovery atmosphere,” she said. “When they got priced out of those places, they came to us.”
West Palm Beach police say they don’t keep a record of the number of homes while Delray authorities estimate there are about 150 sober homes in the 16-square-mile city.
Delray has seen a significant increase in the number of homes. The city’s police chief, Jeff Goldman, said about half of the work police do daily involves drugs, addiction and sober homes. In some cases, the sober homes are right next door to known drug houses, he said.
“It’s scary and it’s frustrating from the law enforcement side, because as cops we just want to go in there, kick butt, take names and arrest people, and solve the problem,” Goldman said. “But because there are so many tentacles to this, it’s almost like you are spinning your wheels.”