The Supportive-Recovery Residence Program.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details about the funding amounts or whether the program will be fully implemented despite the veto.

Supportive Recovery Housing Program

This bill allows state programs to fund supportive-recovery residences that emphasize abstinence and requires these homes to meet certain standards.

What This Bill Does

• Allows state programs to give money to supportive-recovery houses that help people who are trying to stop using drugs or alcohol, as long as the program meets specified criteria.
• Requires these houses to follow rules set by the National Alliance for Recovery Residences or other national groups and ensures they meet certain requirements including emphasizing long-term housing stability.
• Prohibits eviction on the basis of relapse and requires supportive-recovery residences to provide overdose prevention training and medication.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless and need help to stop using drugs or alcohol.
• Supportive-recovery residences that receive public funding under this program.

Terms To Know

Abstinence

Not using drugs or alcohol at all.

Housing First

A policy approach that provides housing as the first step in helping people who are homeless, rather than requiring them to solve other problems like drug use before they can get a home.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill was vetoed by the governor, but lawmakers might try to override this veto.
• It is not clear how much funding will be available for these supportive-recovery residences.

Official Summary Text

AB 255, Haney.
The Supportive-Recovery Residence Program.
Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to oversee the implementation of Housing First guidelines and regulations, and, among other things, identify resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California. Existing law requires a state agency or department that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to include enumerated Housing First policies. Existing law specifies the core components of Housing First, including services that are informed by a harm-reduction philosophy that recognizes drug and alcohol use and addiction as a part of tenants’ lives and where tenants are engaged in nonjudgmental communication regarding drug and
alcohol use.
This bill would authorize state programs to fund supportive-recovery residences, as defined, that emphasize abstinence under these provisions as long as the state program meets specified criteria, including that at least 90% of program funds awarded to each jurisdiction is used for housing or housing-based services using a harm-reduction model.
This bill would specify requirements for applicants seeking funds under these programs and would require the state to perform periodic monitoring of select supportive-recovery residence programs to ensure that the supportive-recovery residences meet certain requirements, including that core outcomes of the supportive-recovery housing emphasize long-term housing stability and minimize returns to homelessness. The bill would also prohibit eviction on the basis of relapse, as specified. The bill would require, if a tenant is no longer interested in living in a
supportive-recovery residence with an abstinence focus, is at risk of eviction, or is discharged from the program, the tenant to reside in the supportive recovery residence until the operator secures the tenant a new permanent housing placement option operated with harm-reduction principles that is also permanent housing. The bill would require supportive housing and services to support residents’ access to and use of medications to treat behavioral and physical health conditions, as specified, and to provide overdose prevention training and overdose reversal medication to staff and residents, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires it to administer various programs that provide services to homeless individuals.
This bill would require the department to
adopt the most recent standards approved by the National Alliance for Recovery Residences or other national standards as the minimum standard for supportive-recovery residences that receive public funds under these provisions. The bill would require the department to establish a separate process for determining if the supportive-recovery residence complies with the core components of Housing First. The bill would require the department to verify compliance with the core components of Housing First for residences seeking Housing First certification, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to charge
an annual fee to verify that supportive-recovery residences comply with the core components of Housing First in an amount not to exceed the reasonable cost of administering the program, not to exceed $100, and would establish the Supportive-Recovery Residence Program Fund for collection of the fee, to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF