Ohio needs standards, oversight for safe ‘sober housing’

Ajudge’s order keeping 25 “sober houses” open while the state investigates serious problems with them is a practical temporary solution, but the situation shows that the recovery-housing field needs more public attention.

Such houses are supposed to offer supportive shelter for people who are trying to stay sober following alcohol or drug addiction. It’s a need that’s growing daily amid Ohio’s opiate-addiction crisis, but with little in the way of regulation or oversight, options appear prone to abuse.

Ohio law includes a definition of recovery housing: a drug-free environment where peers support each other and help is available to obtain treatment services. But no state license or permit is required to house recovering addicts.

Ohio Recovery Housing, a group that promotes standards and best practices for the field, has been working since 2014 to persuade more sober-housing operators to adopt voluntary standards, but only two have done so.

According to the Ohio attorney general’s office, people living in houses operated by the Reynoldsburg-based nonprofit Summer Rays were financially exploited and verbally and physically abused. Residents were expected to work in and patronize businesses owned by Summer Rays founder Chuck Kirk, and the state says Kirk controlled them by frequently threatening to kick them out.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David C. Young granted the state a restraining order against Summer Rays earlier this month and appointed a receiver to take control of the company’s assets and properties.

That could have left dozens of vulnerable people with nowhere to go, but Young on Monday ruled that Lighthouse Behavioral Health Solutions, a forprofit agency that opened in May, will work with the receiver to keep the Summer Rays houses open.

Finding a safe, affordable place to nurture newfound sobriety is hard for someone recovering from addiction, and central Ohio’s booming housing market makes it even harder. Shoddy or abusive operators could wreck someone’s recovery, with tragic consequences.

State and community leaders looking for solutions to the opiate crisis need to include recovery housing in their considerations.

Central Ohio advocates for the homeless have said for years that more help should be focused on those age 24 and younger. Now, with a $6.1 million federal grant, the Community Shelter Board is in a position to make things happen.

The board has said it will spend four to six months creating a comprehensive plan for the two-year grant and will add money from private sources. It shouldn’t prolong the planning; last year, more than 1,300 people under the age of 25 got help at area shelters and more than 900 unaccompanied youths visited Star House, a drop-in center that has championed local services for homeless teens and 20-somethings.

Young people can end up homeless and on their own because of abuse or conflict in their families. Those who “age out” of foster care when they turn 18 and have little or no support from adults are especially at risk.

Of 11 cities that received grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program, Columbus received the second-largest, after San Diego’s $7.94 million.

This is a chance to prevent young lives from derailing before they get started. Hundreds of young people need help now.