NEWS
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AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS | APRIL 25, 2018
Phoenix clamps down on unregulated group homes I AFN News Staff
t will be a lot more difficult in Phoenix for people with little or no qualifications to operate a group home in a residential neighborhood. City Council last week approved new zoning restrictions and new licensing requirements aimed at curbing clustering of any type of group home in one neighborhood and all but eliminating shady operators who collect government
and private insurance payments without offering any treatment – and sometimes even meals – to unsuspecting substance abusers seeking rehabilitation. The state Legislature also passed similar restrictions that Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law, but they won’t take effect for two years. “Phoenix will now become the nationwide leader in addressing the myriad problems of this fast-growing industry, protecting the vulnerable population
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counting on these facilities to aid their journey to sobriety, and in so doing ensuring a quality neighborhood environment for every resident,” said city Councilman Sal DiCiccio, who pushed for the restrictions with the help of his chief of staff, Sam Stone. Stone and DiCiccio became aware of the problem when neighbors in Arcadia complained. Subsequent research by a resident, Linda Colino, discovered dozens of homes with a single ZIP code. In many cases, residents of those homes simply wandered around the neighborhood or just loitered outside because they had no supervision and were provided with no programs. “Many are little more than insurance or government-subsidized flophouses – places with as many as 10 people, newly released from rehab, living together in
questionable conditions entirely without professional assistance or supervision. Tragically, this lack of minimum operating standards has already resulted in the deaths of multiple people nationwide,” DiCiccio said. The new requirements mandate the presence of a trained on-site supervisor, a discharge plan to ensure residents are not simply dumped on the streets when their insurance coverage runs out and basic safety measures to ensure the safety and security of residents and neighborhoods alike. DiCiccio praised Colino and the citizens group she formed, Take Action Phoenix, for their work on the problem. Colino noted that no neighborhood, even in Ahwatukee, was safe since the operators just as easily occupied pricey houses as less-expensive ones.
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