PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE ...

PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

HEARING ON RECOVERY HOUSING MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP MUNICIPAL BUILDING

LANGHORNE, PENNSYLVANIA

Proceedings held at the Middletown Township Municipal Building, 3 Municipal Way, Langhorne, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, October 8, 2013, commencing at approximately 10:02 a.m., before Barbara McKeon Quinn, a Registered Merit Reporter and Notary Public, pursuant to

notice.

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2PUBLIC HEARING, 10/8/2013

BEFORE:GENE DiGIROLAMO, MAJORITY CHAIRMAN REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS P. MURT REPRESENTATIVE BERNIE O'NEILL REPRESENTATIVE TINA DAVIS REPRESENTATIVE FRANK FARRYANGEL CRUZ, MINORITY CHAIRMAN REPRESENTATIVE STEPHEN KINSEY REPRESENTATIVE MADELEINE DEAN

ALSO PRESENT:Melanie Brown,Human Services Committee staff Ashley McCahan,Human Services Committee staff

JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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INDEX OF SPEAKERSCHAIRMAN GENE DiGIROLAMO 4BY REPRESENTATIVE FARRY 6BY REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS 8BY THE CHAIR 10BY THE CHAIR (On behalf of Gary Tennis) 11BY TED MILLARD 15BY FRED WAY 21BY AMY MERICLE 23BY KEVIN DIPPOLITO 30BY AMBER LONGHITANO 34BY JOSEPH W. PIZZO 45BY DIANE W. ROSATI 57BY REPRESENTATIVE DEAN 64


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THE CHAIR: Good morning, everyone.Welcome to the hearing of the Human

Services Committee. And the first order of business I would like to ask everyone if they would rise and we'll recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

(Pledge of Allegiance.)THE CHAIR: Okay. For the first order of

business, I thought maybe we'll just go down the line and ask the members who are present here today and staff to just say hello and let everybody know who they are and

what district they come from.And we can start with Tina.REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS: Good morning. Tina

Davis, 141, right next to Frank and Gene. Thanks.REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Good morning.

I'm Bernie O'Neill. I represent the center of Bucks County, Upper Southampton, Warminster area and I go right up to the river of New Hope borough, the 29th district.

REPRESENTATIVE MURT: Good morning. My name's Tom Murt. I represent part of eastern Montgomery County and part of Northeast Philadelphia.

REPRESENTATIVE FARRY: Frank Farry, 142nd

District from right here in Middletown.I'd also like to thank Middletown Township

Manager, Stephanie Teoli, for hosting us here today.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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THE CHAIR: Gene DiGirolamo. I represent the 18th District, which is right here in Bucks County, and I'm the Republican chairman of the committee.

MELANIE BROWN: Hi, I'm Melanie Brown. I

direct the committee on human services.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Good morning. My

name is State Representative Stephen Kinsey, Philadelphia County, 231st legislative district.

ASHLEY McCAHAN: Ashley McCahan, Human Services Committee staff.

THE CHAIR: Okay. I'd like to welcome the members and the staff and everybody who's present here in

the audience. I think we're going to have a really good hearing today and I think it's an important hearing.

We're holding the hearing on behalves of Representative Frank Farry and Representative Tina Davis here in Bucks County.

And the hearing is really about

Representative Farry's bill, which is House Bill 1298, and I think we're going to hear some really good

testimony today hopefully on the differences between halfway houses and recovery houses and Representative Farry's effort to try to bring some guidelines, some types of state guidelines to the recovery houses that have been popping up not only here in Bucks County but



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also all across the state.I believe there are some -- some of them

are really good when they're run properly, they're really necessary, but we've heard some stories and rumors about some bad ones popping up and we'd like to somehow bring some guidelines and give some relief to the residents.

So with that I'm going to open up and let Representative Frank Farry, he asked for some opening remarks.

REPRESENTATIVE FARRY: Thank you,Chairman. House Bill 1298 is some very basic legislation which amends existing law.

The bill will allow the Department of Drug and Alcohol to promulgate regulations regarding housing

programs that offer assistance to people with drug or alcohol abuse problems sometimes referred to as recovery

houses.The regulation shall include, but not be

limited to, a definition of a recovery house, rights of inspection, assignments of rights of inspection, and penalties when violations of a departmental regulation occur.

In order to receive any federal or state funding, a recovery house must comply with regulations promulgated by the Department of Drug and Alcohol


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programs.This issue came to light because of some

matters that arose here in Middletown, and I know Representative Davis has many more recovery houses in her

legislative district.We know how important recovery houses are

in the recovery process, and by all means we want to ensure those recovery houses that are run on the up and up, you know, have the protections they need.

I think a greater concern are

unfortunately there's some folks that are running more so fly-by-night recovery homes, and when they're located in our residential communities it gives rise to great concern.

So I look forward to the testimony heretoday.

I think we have a broad base of panelists that are going to provide some very important information and hopefully we can move forward with this legislation and help those that are in recovery with what they need

as well as ensuring they're properly protected.THE CHAIR: Thank you.

We'd like to also recognize in the audience Sean Schafer from Senator Tommy Tomlinson's

office.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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With that I'll recognize Representative Tina Davis for opening remarks.

REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS: Thank you.Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Rep Farry and

the committee members for holding this hearing.I just want to let people know I came from

a local government background, so I've been dealing with this issue probably for about eight years now. So I'm very excited about the bill that you're going to be hearing about today.

The current situation serves no one, not the patient seeking recovery from drug or alcohol

addictions and not the conscientious providers trying to provide beneficial services, and definitely not the communities and the residents who are harmed by the lack of oversight and safeguards.

The crash of the housing market in '08 and the corresponding foreclosure and tax sales have enabled

speculators to buy homes cheaply, turn them into recovery homes. They are able to charge a resident 100 to 150 dollars a week.

Do the math. If you have seven residents in a home, the income per month is over $4,000.

I have many blocks that have two and three

on each block. Does anyone care to guess how that couldJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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affect the prices of the surrounding homes and a potential buyer?

For me in my district, I can receive anywhere from 1 to 20 calls or e-mails a week with complaints.

The most recent one came just yesterday.I would like to read a quote. I do not want to -- this is the quote.

I do not want to sound hypocritical. I believe that people deserve second chances, but it is also -- but I also believe that there should be some type of notification.

This is a major safety concern. Are there background checks being done? Why are the neighbors not notified? Unquote.

I asked my local L & I department whether the applicant was required to show proof that they were a recovery home, and they replied no.

It must be noted that there are many property owners who are legitimately trying to help

people with drug and alcohol problems. Unfortunately, for every good recovery home, we have ten that do not monitor their tenants.

Rep Farry's bill is a common sense, first step to fix this. The bill would give the state the


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authority to identify and regulate these recovery homes.It would establish inspections and devise

penalties when the recovery homes fail to provide the services needed and promised.

It would protect taxpayers by requiring recovery homes to comply with reasonable rules and goals

before federal or state funding can be awarded.Unfortunately, the Fair Housing Act has

had the unintended consequence of hamstringing our municipalities' abilities to deal with recovery houses in

a responsible and needed manner.So thank you for hearing this and I'm

excited.THE CHAIR: Okay. Thank you,

Representative Davis.And to start off, Secretary of our

Department of Drug and Alcohol program, Gary Tennis, was not able to be with us this morning, but he submitted testimony and he asked if I would read it before the hearing starts, and I'm going to do that.

It's only about a page and a half; it will take a couple minutes. And I think it's important to have his testimony read into the record.

Thank you, Chairman DiGirolamo, and members of the committee for giving --


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Oh, excuse me. I would also like to recognize Representative Madeleine Dean who's here today.

Madeleine, welcome from Montgomery County.REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Thank you.THE CHAIR: Thank you, Chairman

DiGirolamo, and members of the committee for giving attention to the important issue of recovery houses for those who are in early recovery from the disease of drug

and alcohol addiction.This has been a critically important issue

where significant strides have been made over the past quarter of a century and where a number of challenges were presented to federal, state and local government policymakers.

The Department of Drug and Alcohol programs list the issue of recovery housing among the

many important issues that need careful review, analysis and restatement of policy and practice from the

department's perspective.We are currently in negotiations with the

Pennsylvania Recovery Organizational Alliance, PRO-A, to have the alliance work with stakeholders to review some

of the opportunities and challenges presented in this arena and to make recommendations to the department.

Some principles that are likely to guideJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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our deliberations are enumerated below. Number 1, treatment of this chronic recurring disease must be

comprehensive.Those who are transitioning from inpatient

to outpatient treatment and those who are completing their formal regimen of treatment all together will fare much better in maintaining their lives of recovery if they live in a drug-free housing environment that is recovery supportive, not recovery hostile.

And I think that is really, really

important.Number 2. We must continue to examine

funding levels for addiction treatment. National statistics tell us current funding is able to treat one individual for every ten suffering from addiction.

Here in Pennsylvania funding levels allow

us to treat one out of every eight in need.Understanding that demand continues to

outpace our resources, it is critical that the treatment funding we do have to be used for addiction treatment.

We must be proactive in working to ensure the public and other funding for recovery housing is paid through housing dollars.

Number 3. Recovery housing should not be

considered a substitute for clinically appropriateJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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PUBLIC HEARING, 10/8/2013

addiction treatment.It is understandable to want to find ways

to maximize the effectiveness of our limited resources, but we should not do so in a manner that may result in

undertreatment of the disease.An example of this may be an attempt to

inappropriately undertreat individuals who are determined by a full assessment and application of the Pennsylvania Client Placement criteria to be in need of residential treatment, including licensed halfway houses with outpatient plus recovery housing.

Unfortunately, there is no research

showing that undertreatment works even with the addition of recovery housing.

In the absence of clinical evidence for that approach, we must ensure that treatment is conducted with evidence-based clinical integrity.

When clinically appropriate treatment occurs, we are convinced that good recovery housing for this group can make good outcomes even better.

Number 4. The appropriateness and reach of governmental regulation depends on whether there are

public funds involved.For example, if a landlord prefers to rent

to recovering people, takes no public funds but instead

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is paid rent by his recovering tenants in the normal fashion, then it would appear that the legitimate scope of government regulations should be that applied to any residential landlord tenant situation, Licensing & Inspection for example.

If taxpayer dollars are funding recovery

housing, then the public is entitled to insist that certain minimal standards are met in order to optimize the prospect for continued recovery and in general the best interest of the public client.

The Department of Drug and Alcohol program believes that these minimal standards must be met and

intends to work with PRO-A, the Pennsylvania Association of County Drug and Alcohol Directors, the Drug and Alcohol Service Providers of Pennsylvania, the Rehabilitation Community Providers Association, and other

interested stakeholders to establish those standards.In conclusion, please accept my

appreciation, Chairman DiGirolamo, and the members of the committee for permitting me to submit written testimony

to you on this important issue.And I am available at this phone number

and address, and his testimony is in the packets for anybody that would like to contact Secretary Gary Tennis.

Okay. With that, I'd like to call up our

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first testifier who is Ted Millard, who is the executive director of Good Friends, which is a halfway house here

in Bucks County.And just to set one guideline for the

hearing today, it's my intention to allow everyone to testify first and then at the end of the testimony if everyone could stick around if we have time before 12 o'clock, I'd like to open it up for questions and answers at the end.

With that, Ted, you can begin whenever

you're ready.TED MILLARD: Good morning, Mr. Chairman,

and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this important hearing.

My name is Ted Millard. I am the executive director of Good Friends, Incorporated, a licensed residential substance abuse treatment facility here in beautiful Bucks County.

For those unfamiliar with our agency, I will quote the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission

who wrote, This organization is a model within its scope of business and is one of the leaders in the provision of halfway house treatment in the state.

And within that quote is the reason I

appear before you today. The term halfway house, as itJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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is commonly confused with the focus of this bill, a recovery house.

Halfway houses are assumed by many to be recovery houses.

As a past president of the Pennsylvania Halfway House Association, I can attest to the numerous telephone calls my counterparts and I have received from citizens looking for a bed in a recovery house, or

thinking we are an arm of the criminal justice system as a program for inmates leaving prison, and there is good reason for this confusion.

As state sponsored alcoholism programs expanded in the 1950s, concerns grew about how a person would maintain their early recovery as they made the transition from a residential institution back into their community.

This created new social settings that provided residential support designed to aid community reentry and the term halfway house was brought into our field's language.

These were homeowners opening their homes to support friends and fellow citizens transitioning back

from rehab. Some of these new homes branched off to form professional centers.

Soon afterwards national advocacyJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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organizations formed to support this movement, the oldest being The Association of Halfway House Alcoholism

Programs of North America.Good Friends, Incorporated was a member of

this association along with many of the presently licensed halfway house organizations in Pennsylvania.

In the past, Pennsylvania's Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs and the Division of Drug and Alcohol Program Licensing each held full memberships in this organization.

As the professional development of halfway houses grew, it did not replace the community citizens who shared their living quarters with the newly sober individual as there was a need for both.

But both factions often use the same name, halfway house, but now each meant a different thing.

The concept of transitioning folks into a community based halfway house became more confusing as

the criminal justice system also adopted the term halfway house for their particular use.

So from the idea of supporting the newly sober alcoholic, across our nation halfway houses have come to encompass very different things.

But in Pennsylvania there is one stark

difference. In our Commonwealth the term halfway houseJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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is based in substance abuse legislation.By law a halfway house must be a licensed

nonhospital residential treatment and rehabilitation facility that provides a home-like atmosphere within the

local community.Its comprehensive license regulations

include its business structure, treatment activities, staff member qualifications, and physical plant standards for health and safety.

These regulations are reviewed on a

yearly basis with on site inspections conducted by the Department of Drug and Alcohol Program's Division of

Program Licensure.Each halfway house treatment program also

hosts yearly on-site inspections from its contracting single county authority, and the specific requirements under their jurisdiction as well as inspections from each managed care company it contracts with under the

HealthChoices Program.But this doesn't stop the confusion over

what is a recovery house and what is a halfway house, and I certainly understand why.

If a person wants to get information about halfway houses they can use Google as a search engine and type in halfway house.


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They'll see ten first-page entries, five that relate to recovery housing, including

halfwayhouse.com, three involve news articles linked to a criminal justice halfway housing, one is a link to a Wikipedia definition that notes they are for persons recently released from jail or a mental institution, and

the last refers to Halfway House, Pennsylvania, a city of 3,000 people in Montgomery County.

Use ehow.com and it says halfway houses, also called sober houses or sober living, can be the difference between a successful drug treatment episode and relapse.

If you are looking to develop a halfway house, then maybe you go to the United States Small Business Administration's website where you will find this title: Resources for Starting a Halfway House or Transitional Housing Facility.

It then provides you with its definition. Transitional housing provides people with a temporary place to live as they attempt to get back on their feet or make a major transition in their life.

Yes, all of this can be quite confusing to a citizen in Pennsylvania.

Because of this confusion I appreciate the opportunity to speak today to clarify the difference


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between a licensed halfway house treatment program and a recovery house in Pennsylvania.

As Representative Farry's February 14th memo to house members noted, there is presently no definition of a recovery house in Pennsylvania, nor is it currently regulated.

As reviewed here, both the definition and regulations for a halfway house are already on the book. It's the confusion that remains.

But I am also here to support quality recovery housing. Our agency refers clients to certain recovery houses as we find their services can be an

essential part of the recovery process for some individuals.

But as you know, recovery houses vary greatly in condition. As a referring provider, I want to be confident that we are referring a client to a place that is safe, appropriately maintained, and beneficial to the client's recovery process.

The development of recovery house

standards is a positive step in this direction.I believe Commonwealth dollars should only

be accessible to recovery houses that meet these developed standards, and I want to be confident that people in need of treatment are being placed in the


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appropriate level of care consistent with the Pennsylvania Client Placement Criteria before their

entrance into a recovery house.A placement into a recovery house should

never be made in lieu of licensed addiction treatment services.

Thank you for the opportunity to speaktoday.

THE CHAIR: Okay. Ted, thank you very much and I would appreciate if you could stick around for

a little bit in case there are some questions later on.Next we have Fred Way, who's the executive

director for the Philadelphia Association of Recovery Residences and also with him is Amy Mericle.

Welcome, Fred and Amy. Good to see theboth of you.

And whenever you're ready, you can begin.FRED WAY: Good morning. We're here to

talk about recovery residences and also the -- also, I must also say that I am the vice president of the National Association of Recovery Residences also.

So, therefore, I see recovery houses throughout the United States. Okay? And the issues that we're having here, okay, are no different than a lot of

other states that are going on right now.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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One of the goals of PARR, you know, is to decrease stigma, you know, around recovery housing and creating standards within the recovery housing which has been the thing that we have been doing for the last year.

In the City of Philadelphia there are two major distinctions within a recovery home network.

Some homes receive funding from the Philadelphia Office of Addiction Services, but the vast

majority of the homes do not, and those are the vast majority that PARR is working with.

Homes that receive funding from OAS must verify licensing compliance as well as proof of ownership

of the property, general liability insurance, proof of current utility bills, and proof of a 501(c)(3) or a nonprofit designation before they can receive funding.

The OAS funded houses have direct oversight. Referrals are generated through the Housing Initiative Office and the houses have staff coverage

around the clock.Heretofore, neither oversight nor support

exists in the unfunded homes.Our mission at PARR is to create, evaluate

and improve standards in terms of quality of all recovery residences.

PARR provides a forum for its changingJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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ideas to include and develop uniformity in our field of problem solving and advocacy.

Also, for 20 years I worked for the Office of Addiction Services and I've overseen the funding

system, okay, so I've seen the funded houses and now I'm working with the unfunded houses.

And believe me, at this point with PARR, I have certified 15 houses that meet the standards of a Level 2 and there are another 51 that's in the process or stages of trying to get their house to be able to meet those standards.

So the operators of these houses are willing to adhere to standards; it's just a matter of working with them and developing them as far as, you know, their business.

I have with me Dr. Mericle who -- and also

in the packet that I sent you guys have, there's a few things in there. Dr. Mericle is conducting a study in Philadelphia, and I will let her talk to you about that very briefly.

AMY MERICLE: Thank you. As Fred mentioned, my name is Amy Mericle.

I'm a health services researcher specializing in addiction health services research, and I'm here today to talk about my work, my research on


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recovery residences.Fred mentioned that in your packet is a

Policy Statement on recovery residences that I co-authored with Lenny Jason who's done research on

Oxford Houses as well as Doug Polcin who's done research on sober living houses in California, and Bill White, who

is a well-known substance abuse treatment researcher.What this document does is, it very

clearly describes and defines what a recovery residence is.

For example, in the second paragraph, Recovery residences, which go by the names of sober

living houses, recovery homes and Oxford Houses, are sober, safe and healthy living environments that promote recovery from alcohol and drug use and associated problems.

At a minimum recovery residences offer peer-to-peer recovery support with some providing professionally delivered services and clinical services all aimed at promoting abstinence and long-term recovery.

So you can see in that definition there is a range of different types of recovery residences.Again, at a minimum, it provides peer-to-peer support, but at the other end of the spectrum they can provide much more.


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So I think that in talking about recovery residences, it's important to keep in mind that there are different types so that there is a range of a continuum of services that can be received in recovery residences.

The next paragraph of this position statement talks about the research on recovery residences. And, unfortunately, there hasn't been enough.

My colleague, Lenny Jason, has been over the past decade been researching Oxford Houses.

And at this point there's a really good base, literature base on the advocacy of Oxford Houses.In fact, it's on NREPP's list of evidence-based practices.

But that's just one type of recovery residence, the Oxford House. There are also different -or other types of recovery residences as well.

So my other colleague, who's a co-author on this paper, Doug Polcin, has done research on sober living houses in California.

And his work also shows very promising results about the effectiveness of sober living houses in California.

Unfortunately, there is little else out there in terms of research on recovery residences, which


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is unfortunate, but I'm hoping to fill that gap with my research on recovery residences in Philadelphia, and I'll

tell you a little bit more about that.What this statement goes on to say is that

after reviewing what a recovery residence is, the literature base on them, it outlines a direction to proceed in terms of promoting and supporting recovery residences.

And the policy statement really has four groups of recommendations. The first recommendation is really about support of recovery residences, and that's about funding.

As researchers we were very keen to hop on recommendations with regard to research, but we can't research them and establish their effectiveness and efficacy if they don't exist.

And it's very hard for recovery residences to be out there because of lack of funding for them but

also because of stigma.So one of the recommendations in this

report is also for advocacy, recovery home advocacy, recovery residence advocacy, trying to educate the public about what recovery residences are, what they do, to increase support for them.

And then the other recommendation that isJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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in there is about training and education to help provide professionals knowledge for what they need to do in order

to run a recovery residence.So in my work in Philadelphia, I received

funding from the Department of Health here in Pennsylvania to study recovery residences in

Philadelphia.What we did was we drew a stratified

random sample of 20 homes in Philadelphia, actually 25 homes, and the first part of that process was trying to map or to identify all of the recovery residences in Philadelphia, and there are quite a few.

Working from a list that the city had put together from their work mapping recovery residences and recovery homes and recovery resources and from the work that Fred did with the Philadelphia Association of Recovery Residences, PARR, we had a listing of almost 300 houses.

We tried to contact each and every one of those houses to see if they were still around, to get more information about the clients they served, and whether or not they would be eligible to be part of our

study.After we went through that process we

whittled the list down to about 220-odd recovery homes inJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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Philadelphia. That's quite a bit.But we were able to sample from that 25

houses that we studied basically by talking with the recovery home operator.

So it could have been the owner of the house, it could have been the house manager, it could have been the director.

But basically we wanted to get a sense of what they were doing in their houses, what kinds of services they were providing, what kinds of clients they

accepted into their programs, and actually what happened in the houses in terms of treatment or after-care, things

like that.And what we found actually was that -

and, again, this is based on what the providers or the recovery house operators were telling us, was that most of them operate in a very therapeutically oriented manner.

They had rules and regulations for their residents. They provided a range of services.

They required their clients to either be attending self-help meetings or to be attending treatment. It was definitely -- it was very therapeutically oriented.

But we also heard from them about all ofJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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the obstacles that they encountered in trying to operate these homes, and most of that was perceptions and stigma about addiction, about what they were trying to do with their houses.

Now, as part of that study we also collected data from residents. We conducted focus groups with over 100 residents in 13 different houses, and we conducted focus groups with alumni who used to live in recovery houses.

And we were also able to follow up with

residents who participated in these focus groups three months later to see how they were doing.

Now we're still analyzing the data that we got from the residents, and I don't want to say too much, but what I can say is that the theme of stigma was also something that the residents brought up.

And one of the things that I heard most frequently was that they wished that people realized that recovery homes were part of the solution and not part of the problem; that they were people who were trying to change their lives, to turn their lives around, and just wanted to have a second chance.

So I hope to have more of my findings out soon, but it's been a pleasure to talk with this group and to share what I've learned about recovery homes in


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Philadelphia.So thank you and thank you, Fred.THE CHAIR: Okay. Fred and Amy, thank

you. I would appreciate if the both of you could hang around for a little bit, because I'm sure there's going to be some questions for you.

Thank you for very good testimony.Next we have Kevin Dippolito, who's the

fire marshal and emergency management director for Bristol Township, and also along with him I believe Amber

Longhitano, who is a council person in Bristol Township also going to testify, and also I'd like to recognize Craig Bowen who's in attendance this morning -- Craig, welcome -- who's also on council in Bristol Township.

Kevin, you can begin whenever you like.KEVIN DIPPOLITO: Thank you. I was asked

to come before you today to speak on fire safety issues with -- directly related to recovery homes.

In Bristol Township you may or may not know already we have approximately 40 recovery homes in the township.

When they first come into the township,

they go through a proper process of getting registered with the township, being told how many people they can have in their home, but unfortunately right now those


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homes are not required to have automatic fire alarm systems in them.

The issue we have with this is, as the doctor said previous to me, folks go into these homes with the intent and hopes of having a safe and secure environment to go through their recovery process.

I'd like to see that go a step further and have at the state level the requirement for monitored

fire alarm systems in these homes.The reason I say that is, these folks are

short-term most of the time in these homes. They're not familiar with these houses.

They did not grow up in them, they cannot close their eyes and crawl from one end of the house to the other during a dark smoky fire condition.

We need, that being the fire service, we need every moment we can get to effect a rescue in these homes if they are trapped in these houses.

Unlike the City of Philadelphia, who has a fully staffed fire department that's ready to roll out the doors within 30 seconds or so, Bristol Township, like all of Bucks County, is primarily served by volunteer

firefighters.Those trucks typically will not hit the

street in the middle of the night when people are asleepJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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and most at risk for three to four minutes.Having automatic fire detection systems in

these homes will accomplish several things.Number one, it will give notification to

all occupants of the house no matter where they are located in the house because the systems will be tied together.

So someone who is sleeping at one end of the house will be alerted to a fire at the far end. Unlike an individual stand-alone battery operated smoke

detector which only beeps where the smoke is.A system that is all tied together

interconnected will alert throughout the residence regardless of what floor they're on or what end of the building they're on giving them the most opportunity to get out of that house.

In addition, that alarm system should or could send a signal to an alarm monitoring company which

automatically dispatches the fire department.So while those folks are escaping the fire

department is being notified by an automatic dialing system coming out of the control panel of the alarm system.

That in turn gets the firefighters

responding before one of those folks needs to find aJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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phone, because they may have escaped with only the clothes on their back, not grabbing their cell phones on

the way out the door.That in itself would increase the life

safety of these homes tremendously.In addition, if we had a state required

annual inspection, the respective fire authority of that municipality would be able to make sure these fire alarm

systems are upkept, that they're working properly, that fire extinguishers are placed in the homes where they

should be.They have an opportunity to speak to the

tenants of the house at that time for a very -- it may be brief, but it may be an opportunity to show them how to use a fire extinguisher, make sure they know where the fire extinguishers are located.

So the other option that would give us would -- if there's an annual inspection program of these

homes strictly for the safety of the residents, it would also give us the opportunity to make sure that the population in that house hasn't gone above what is permissible for the respective municipality.

We have found in cases where areas that were previously not sleeping rooms have been converted

into sleeping rooms.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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This is not the case most of the time, but it has been the case a few times that I can think of

where additional rooms that used to be a living space were chopped up and subdivided into additional living spaces.

To the fire service, when we go to a residential house, we have a rough idea how many people might be trapped in that house.

When we go to a recovery home, unless we are somewhat recently involved in having contact with

that house, we may not know.We may have people in that home that we

were not expecting to be in places where typically you're not going to find somebody sleeping. Assuming this is taking place in the middle of the night.

For that an annual inspection, a safety inspection program, again, to ensure the safety of the occupants to go there with the intent of having a safe environment to go through their recovery, this would be undoubtedly beneficial to not only to their safety but the fire department who's going to respond to effect a rescue in the middle of the night.

That's all.THE CHAIR: Amber.

AMBER LONGHITANO: Thank you. I wouldJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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like to thank this distinguished committee, Chairman and Representative Farry for taking a stand to look at

halfway houses and recovery homes at all.In Bristol Township of the immediate

vicinity halfway houses/recovery homes we have four in Falls Township, we have nine in Bristol Borough, we have two in Middletown Township, and we have, as Kevin said, actually 42 in Bristol Township.

We believe in second chances and we believe that there is a need for recovery homes and halfway houses for individuals seeking to better their lives.

However, we have a responsibility as elected officials for the lives that exist within our community.

When you inundate a community with halfway houses, it puts a hardship on property value on the residents themselves and everybody including -

(Technical difficulty.)Sorry about that.Okay. As I was saying, when you inundate

a community with halfway houses, it affects the whole

community and all of the residents within it.I'm asking this committee to go just one

step further and try and look into, whether it be on aJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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state level or a federal level, some kind of regulations as to how many can exist within one community and within one neighborhood before it affects the whole community, and that is what is happening in Bristol Township.

So I thank you very much for this opportunity to speak and I appreciate you taking a stand and I will look to you guys further for help.

THE CHAIR: Since this is Fire Prevention

Week and I know Kevin is not able to stay to the end of the meeting, I'm going to open it up to a couple of questions if anybody has any questions for Kevin or Amber.

Any members of the committee have anyquestions?

Representative Kinsey.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Thank you,

Mr. Chair.For the fire marshal, I just have a few

questions if you don't mind.KEVIN DIPPOLITO: Yes, sir.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: I think you

suggested setting up a -- I think when you were talking about the, I think it's the smoke detectors or the fire alarm system in the home?

KEVIN DIPPOLITO: Uh-huh.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Do you have any estimation as to what the average cost might be? You're talking about hard wiring that?

KEVIN DIPPOLITO: Correct. I'm talking about an actual fire alarm system with the smoke detectors interconnected. They now have some RF systems that communicate the RF frequency that don't require wiring.

As a matter of fact, that's what I put in my house last year. They're phenomenal. They accomplish what needs to be done and that is unilateral activation throughout the house.

I believe -- you're asking for a rough estimate? Is that it?

REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Yes.KEVIN DIPPOLITO: I believe you could

probably in most Levittown style homes put one in for 2,000, give or take.

REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Okay. That's fairly reasonable.

And the second question is, I think you had mentioned suggestion of an annual state required inspection.

In your estimation -- well, I guess when

you perceive that annual state required inspection, whoJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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would be responsible for conducting that?Would that be the fire department? Would

it be maybe a department of L & I or would it be the actual owner of the property?

KEVIN DIPPOLITO: Well, if we utilize the Uniform Construction Code, as we have now in the State of Pennsylvania, each municipality has the option to either do it in house or contract out to a third-party depending on that particular area.

The City of Philadelphia and Bristol

Township, we have our own fire marshal offices and such. But you may be in a more rural area where they contract

out to a third-party agency.As long as the inspections are getting

done, you know, it's -- you know, whoever does it is fine as long as it's done efficiently and proficiently.

REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: I guess my concern was that if we allowed it to let's just say the operator of such property or even the property owner I guess the question -

KEVIN DIPPOLITO: No.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Okay.KEVIN DIPPOLITO: Yes. I'm sorry. I

meant for that to take place by a fire official at some

level.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Okay. Great.Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

THE CHAIR: Anybody else?Representative O'Neill.REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Thank you for

being with us today.

I guess my question relates to zoning.I'm a former township supervisor. Aren't these residential recovery houses covered under the zoning ordinances? Aren't they considered institutional because you're -

KEVIN DIPPOLITO: They are -- I can't say completely and intelligently about all the zoning ordinances of Bristol Township. That is not within my responsibility.

What I do know is when they first become recovery homes, they go through a process at the township level.

But once they go through that process, their only recurring contact with the township presently,

as far as Bristol Township goes, is if they have a change of tenants.

If they have a change of tenants they're supposed to notify the township for earned income tax reasons. But beyond that, there's -- there's little


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contact with the township.REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Really? I mean,

I have to be honest with you, I'm at a loss for words for the lack of local control over this.

I mean, there's so much local control over everything else.

I mean, my district office is inspected every year, you know, and it seems like -- it seems like there's more restrictions on my office than there is in a residential institutional -

Let me ask you this question. Do you have any group homes for the disabled in your community?

KEVIN DIPPOLITO: Yes.REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Are they covered

under any such laws that you're speaking about right now?KEVIN DIPPOLITO: No. And I think they

also deserve the same annual inspections that we're speaking of today for the recovery homes.

These folks that you're now speaking of are often nonambulatory and need as much protection as

they can get.REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Sure.

KEVIN DIPPOLITO: The difference here may be is that a lot of the homes that have nonambulatory persons living in them have home managers or some sort of


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adult supervision to assist them.In the recovery style homes that's not the

case from all my contacts. They typically live there, they govern themselves with -- without a house manager so to speak.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: And I agree with

you. I'm kind of surprised it doesn't exist.If I owned a home, I inherit, you know, a

15-bedroom home from my parents and I decide to rent the rooms out, I have to go through a process with the township.

Would you have to, under current zoning laws or under any current township rules, come and inspect on a regular the safety because I'm renting those rooms out?

KEVIN DIPPOLITO: No. No. There's no requirement for that to be done.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Okay. Thank you.

KEVIN DIPPOLITO: You're welcome.If I may go back to one point you made

about how your office would require an annual fire inspection. That's a very good point.

We're talking about a place where no one sleeps, where the likelihood of human life being in danger during a fire being minimal. We are reducing the


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chances of fire, but there's no life hazard there.Compared to a recovery home where we have

a life hazard, often a high life hazard, and I equate this to some apartment buildings. There are some smaller apartment buildings that may have fewer people in them than a recovery home does.

A small apartment may be an old home that was changed into an apartment building with common

hallways could actually have less than some larger homes.So there's definitely a life hazard there

that we'd like to eliminate. We're the fire service. We want to protect lives and property. Lives being the first and foremost.

THE CHAIR: Representative Murt.REPRESENTATIVE MURT: Thank you,

Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your testimony, Kevin.I have a question. And the question is,

currently can a municipality enact a fire detection

system requirement in Pennsylvania?KEVIN DIPPOLITO: I don't believe -- and,

again, I'm speaking a little out of turn, because this would go towards licensing and inspections department and our zoning.

But I do not believe, because they are considered rental properties under the current laws, that


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they can enact that. I believe if we could we would have done that already.

REPRESENTATIVE MURT: One other question,Mr. Chairman.

You mentioned that in Bristol Township there's 42 halfway houses. Is that an inordinate large amount? Is there some reason why Bristol Township would have so many houses within it?

AMBER LONGHITANO: I'm not sure exactly why Bristol Township had so many. I think it's because there weren't ordinances in place.

Some of the other townships and towns do have ordinances in play, and we are working on that right now as far as how many can exist in a residential home that are nonblood related and still call it a residence or a residential community.

They've also implemented things like how many parking spots off street must be available per licensed driver in a home. We've had none of that in Bristol Township.

So it's kind of been a free-for-all I believe for people coming into Bristol Township and yes, it is an exorbitant amount of halfway homes and recovery homes.

And the problem that I have with thatJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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within my community, unfortunately, the statistics are, as sad as it may be, there is a 30 percent increase in crime within a four-block radius of each one of these.

If you look at that and you add 42 or 51, which is today's number, that completes my whole -encompasses my whole community.

So we have a major problem in Bristol Township, which is why I'm asking the committee to go a

little bit further than just the inspections and look into how many can exist within one community.

REPRESENTATIVE MURT: Thank you for yourtestimony.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.THE CHAIR: Any other questions?

Representative Farry.REPRESENTATIVE FARRY: First off, thank

you for coming out today. I know it's Fire Prevention Week and how busy it is.

I think it's important in the event this legislation is successfully implemented that we carry through the comments of the fire marshal to the Secretary of Drug and Alcohol to ensure that those concerns are

hopefully addressed through the regulations that will be promulgated by the department.

So I think your testimony was dead on andJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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I thank you for being here.KEVIN DIPPOLITO: Thank you for the

opportunity.THE CHAIR: Okay. Thank you.I'd like to recognize my Democratic

Chairman of the Committee, Representative Angel Cruz,

from Philadelphia. Angel, welcome.REPRESENTATIVE CRUZ: I apologize. I did

circles twice around here so, but I'm here.THE CHAIR: Welcome to Bucks County. I

get lost in Philadelphia sometimes, too, Angel.Our next testifier will be Joe Pizzo. Joe

is a solicitor not only for Middletown Township but also for Bensalem.

I'd like to welcome Joe. Whenever you areready begin.

JOSEPH W. PIZZO: Good morning. I provided your assistant with a copy of a statement. I don't know if the board would like -- if the committee would like to get a copy of that now.

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania second class township -- local government in general, but I'll

speak primarily to second class townships, as I've represented currently Bensalem and Middletown and I've previously represented Lower Southampton, Northampton and


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Bristol Townships here in Bucks County.Second Class Township Code empowers

townships to make and adopt ordinances, bylaws, rules and regulations that are not inconsistent with or restrained by the constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth, and those laws have to be necessary for the proper management, care and control of the township, the maintenance of peace, good government, health, welfare of

the township and its citizens.Under the Second Class Township Code

townships are further empowered to plan for the development of the township through zoning, subdivision

and land development regulations under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.

Townships are further able to enact and enforce ordinances to govern and regulate the

construction, alteration, repair, occupation, maintenance, sanitation, lighting, ventilation, water

supply, toilet facilities, drainage, use and inspection of all buildings and housing constructed, erected, altered, designed or used for any use or occupancy and the sanitation of inspection of land within the township.

In order to enforce those ordinances the township may appoint one or more building and housing

inspectors to enforce those regulations of the townshipJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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and for the inspection of construction, alteration, repair and sanitation facilities of buildings and housing in the township.

Furthermore, townships are generally empowered to adopt ordinances to secure the safety of persons or property within the township and to define disturbing the peace within the limitations of the township.

Townships are further given power by the legislature to ensure that fire and emergency medical

services are provided within the township by the means and to the extent determined by the township including

financial and administrative assistance for those services.

The legislature's also given townships through the Second Class Township Code the power to provide for fire protection within the township and adopt any standard fire protection code.

Article 19 of the Second Class Township Code empowers the township to create, fund and operate a police force within the township.

Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities

Planning Code, second class townships are empowered to enact zoning ordinances that are designed in part to promote, protect and facilitate any or all of the


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following.The public health safety morals and

general welfare, coordinated and practical community development and proper density of population and emergency management and preparedness operations.

Similarly, zoning ordinances are designed to prevent overcrowding of land, blight, danger and congestion and traveling transportation, loss of health, life or property from fire, flood, panic or other dangers.

The Commonwealth has also adopted the Pennsylvania Construction Code Act by which townships are

empowered to administer and enforce the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code.

The stated purpose of that act is in part to provide standards for the protection of life, health, property and environment and for the safety and welfare of the consumer, the general public and the owners and

occupants of buildings and structures.It's a lot of power.All of those citations that I just gave

you are there to demonstrate that the Commonwealth has

vested local municipalities and second class townships in particular with a wide range and a broad grant of police powers for the proper management of a township and for


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the maintenance and protection of the health, safety and welfare of its citizens.

Ironically many of those powers that I just enumerated are either inapplicable or unenforceable

by the township when the property or the structure involved is a recovery home.

Recovery home is one that houses a drug or alcohol treatment program.

And when the township seeks to enforce any of its police powers where the township finds itself is a combination of the Fair Housing Act Amendments from 1988, the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with

Disabilities Act.Together, when applied collectively, have

rendered local municipalities all but powerless both in theory and in fact in regard to even the most basic

enforcement of its zoning, its building, and its safety codes and ordinances when the property at issue houses a recovery program.

Now, the intention from the Fair Housing Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act is to protect persons with disabilities from and against discrimination.

It is clearly one of the paramount goals of our society.


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Equal access to safe neighborhoods and to habitable housing should not be denied to any citizen. That much is clear. But it's at this juncture where the inconsistency and the irony meet.

In the name of protecting recovery homes and similar facilities from either overzealous or overreaching regulation by local municipalities in their efforts to perhaps exclude these uses from a neighborhood, the net effect or the resultant effect is that the interpretation of these statutes by the courts have essentially rendered the townships powerless to regulate them once they have located within the

community.And it is that regulation for the

individuals who are in these facilities, the individuals with the disabilities that the township should be seeking to protect, the township can't.

Because, candidly, the collective enforcement of these federal statutes combined with the court decisions that have interpreted them put the township essentially in fear of even attempting even the most basic regulations at time for fear of finding the township on the wrong end of a civil rights lawsuit that's brought under each of those statutes as well as the 14th amendment to the constitution.


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In the municipalities that I've represented over the years recovery homes have existed

largely without efforts by the community to oppose them.In many cases neither the surrounding

residents nor the local government themselves are even aware they exist.

You heard testimony from the gentleman from Bristol Township there are some 40 in Bristol

Township currently.Our estimates are in Middletown that there

are at least 30 group homes of various varieties including recovery homes. Bensalem we would estimate at

least an equal amount again.The existence of many of these group

homes, recovery homes without the knowledge of surrounding residents and without the intervention of the township comes largely from them functioning the way that they are intended to function.

And that is with a group of unrelated individuals functioning within a single family structure, a single family home operating as a family, sharing a single kitchen, common bathroom facilities and a number

of bedrooms.It's when the recovery home is operated in

a fashion that is inconsistent with the structure orJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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within the neighborhood within which it's located that the need for regulation and enforcement becomes necessary

and, in fact, evident to those around the facility as well as the township itself.

As I said a moment ago, the model for recovery homes that I've most encountered over the last 20 years is one where a single family residence is purchased either by a for-profit or a not-for-profit entity for the operation of a recovery home.

The recovery home is occupied by unrelated individuals who are in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction.

They pay the owner/operator of that recovery home a daily, weekly or a monthly fee to live in the recovery home as they transition either from a treatment facility or a detention facility back into

society.The recovery home structure itself remains

as a single house just as those that many of the people surrounding the facility occupy as well.

Again, it has a single kitchen, common bathrooms, and bedrooms that are occupied typically by one or two of the recovery residents.

The number of individuals residing in the

house are appropriate for the size of the structure andJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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for the neighborhood in which the house is located and from both a safety and quality of life perspective for those both inside the house and those living next door to it, there's no difference between the recovery home and

any other home on that street or in that neighborhood.It's when the operation of the recovery

home seeks to exceed the tolerances, if you will, of the structure or the neighborhood in which it's located that

the problems occur.And it is that point in time that those

residents of the recovery home, those are the people with the disabilities, that's when they are most in need of the protections of local government.

Simply put, when the owner or operator of

the recovery house populates the structure with more people than it should, those residents have been placed at risk.

You heard lengthy testimony from the Bristol Township fire marshal regarding fire safety issues surrounding these facilities.

Under all local safety fire codes, nonresidential structures are rated based on size, use and occupancy as to the fire protection and the fire safety measures they're required to have in place.

The need for sprinklers, the number andJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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location of fire exists, the placement and marking of fire extinguishers or pull stations are all based in part on who will be occupying the building, how many people will be in the building at any one time, and the size and

layout of the structure itself.Similar ratings are applied to multifamily

residences and structures such as hotels, apartments and boarding houses.

And, again, for the same reasons, namely, the health and safety of the people inside the structure and the safety and protection of the surrounding structures.

Today in most second class townships in Pennsylvania a local fire marshal or a code inspector

cannot in most cases apply those very same standards to a recovery house.

There is no inspection protocol to ensure that the number of recovery patients paying to be in that home is in fact a safe number to occupy that structure for fire safety purposes.

There's no regulation under which a fire marshal or code inspector can make sure that the facilities being provided by the owner/operator of that program will provide sufficient warning or safe and

adequate means of escape in the event of a fire.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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Similarly, there's no opportunity for an inspector to determine even on an annual basis that the common kitchen and bathroom facilities provided to these individuals function in a safe, sanitary or proper manner.

Local governments are empowered to provide

greater protections to patrons in a nightclub, guests in a motel, or transient residents in a boarding house than

they are to persons with disabilities who are paying for the opportunity to live in a recovery house as they work to overcome their addiction.

This clearly is not in keeping with the

stated purposes of the antidiscrimination laws that I mentioned earlier and it is however where municipalities find themselves today when it comes to the regulation of recovery homes.

Again, local governments are reluctant to even try to do the most basic health and safety inspections or enforcement for fear of becoming defendants in a civil rights litigation filed under these

antidiscrimination statutes or the equal protection clause of the constitution by the owners and operators of the recovery home.

Allowing the regulation and inspection of recovery houses by the township for compliance with basic


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local fire building, property maintenance and zoning codes is consistent with all the legislation referenced in this statement.

It will protect and maintain the health,

safety and welfare of those inside and outside of the recovery home.

Most importantly, Representative Farry's proposed legislation will not serve to harm in any way

those persons who are in recovery. It will serve to protect them.

It will not result in recovery houses being shuttered or barred from residing in residential

neighborhoods to which persons in recovery are seeking to live.

Rather it will protect the recovery home residents from those owners and operators of recovery facilities who may put additional revenue ahead of the safety and welfare of the persons paying to live in the recovery homes.

Furthermore, in all cases, irrespective of the motives of the operator and how the facility is operated, it will assure that these individuals are being provided at a minimum safe and habitable housing during their time in recovery.

I open the floor for any questions.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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THE CHAIR: Joe, do you have a little bit of time to stick around?

JOSEPH W. PIZZO: Absolutely.THE CHAIR: We have one more testifier and

then after she's done we're going to open it for questions. If you can stick around a little bit I'd appreciate it.

THE WITNESS: I'd be happy to.THE CHAIR: Thank you.JOSEPH W. PIZZO: Certainly.THE CHAIR: Our last testifier for today

is someone who I know very well, Diane Rosati, who's the executive director for the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission.

Hardly two or three days goes by where I'm not calling Diane up and trying to help for a Bucks

County resident.And as I said numerous times to you

privately, and I'll say publicly, thank you for the really, really good work, life-saving work actually, that you do for the residents that are in need of drug and alcohol treatment here in Bucks County.

So when you're ready, please begin.DIANE W. ROSATI: Thank you for your kind

words, and thank you esteemed legislators, officials andJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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community members.My name is Diane Rosati, Executive

Director of the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission located in Warminster, Pennsylvania.

I appreciate this opportunity to speak with the Human Services Committee and stakeholders in

support of House Bill No. 1298 which addresses such an important issue for our community and for people in recovery.

Created in 1973 the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission is the designated Single County Authority, SCA, for alcohol, tobacco and other drug services for Bucks County.

We're responsible as the government entity for the administration and management of public funds designated for substance abuse prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery services.

We're a non-profit organization governed by a voluntary board of directors who are appointed by the Bucks County commissioners.

We are fortunate in Bucks County to have a legislative delegation that understands addiction and recovery. Our treatment and recovery support providers, some of whom are present today, offer comprehensive and

effective services.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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However, as each of you know, the demand for drug and alcohol treatment is every increasing. We are faced with a perfect storm.

For the first time in our tenure this past year the commission noted that heroin has overtaken alcohol as the primary drug abuse. That is the drug that most people reportedly were using when they entered treatment.

We're experiencing an opiate and prescription medication epidemic. The impact of

healthcare reform is yet undetermined.Each day we, and you as legislators,

receive desperate phone calls from parents of children who are not minor children and are often in their 20s,30s and 40s seeking direction on where to turn for help.

Too many, and one is too many, parents call our office to tell us of a child's death by overdose.

For every year that we do not receive an increase in our funding, that translates into a decrease in the bottom line for our providers whose expenses have not remained flat.

Our role is to provide treatment and recovery support funding for Bucks County residents who

are not covered by health insurance.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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Our philosophy and practice is to offer a full continuum of care that may include licensed detoxification, rehabilitation, halfway house and outpatient services.

For so many reasons clients may seek treatment a number of times, may leave against medical

advice, or may not be ready for treatment.We seek to reach out to those clients and

are mindful of the many barriers that they must overcome.Recovery support services are available to

assist individuals in their recovery journey.Community recovery centers, peer recovery

and recovery coaches are all designed to acknowledge the many pathways to recovery and support long term recovery from addiction.

Reducing barriers is essential in building recovery capital and maintaining long term sobriety so people can return to their jobs, their families and their

communities.The issue of housing is a key barrier or a

key opportunity for our clients. We support quality recovery houses in our community.

Woven into the fabric of recovery support services are recovery houses, an essential tool in the recovery tool box.



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As you've heard today, recovery houses come in all forms.

We have worked diligently with our partners, including Adult Probation and Parole and the

Bucks County Recovery House Association to ensure a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for the houses that we fund with the Department of Drug and Alcohol dollars.

We've identified one lead staff person who serves on the Recovery House Association Board.

We fund only recovery houses who are members in good standing of the Recovery House Association and we conduct annual site visits as mandated by the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and our monitoring tool goes beyond what the department

requires.In order to ensure client safety and

optimal opportunity for recovery, we contractually require that recovery houses in our network agree to the following:

Have protocols in place regarding

appropriate use and security of medication.Have verification that residents are

informed in writing of all house rules, residency requirements and any lease agreements upon admission.

Have a policy in place which promotesJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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recovery by requiring resident participation in treatment, self-help groups or other recovery supports.

Have a policy regarding resident use of alcohol or other substances.

Have safeguards in place to ensure the safety and protection of each resident.

And be in compliance with all local municipal ordinances.

In addition, recovery houses in our network agree to unannounced inspections conducted by our office in conjunction with Probation and Parole and representatives from the Recovery House Association.

Most of the Recovery House Association members do not receive government funding. The Recovery House Association provides the structure and monitoring to support structured recovery house living.

The Recovery House Association members volunteer to be part of the association which includes paying a fee, following guidelines that have been created by the Recovery House Association members and sanctions to those houses that are found to be using practices that go against the guidelines.

We have a complaint and grievance procedure in place where an e-mail can be sent from the website and a committee made up of my office


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representative, Probation and Parole representative and other recovery house workers review the complaint or

grievance and take further action when warranted.We are committed to working with the

Department of Drug and Alcohol Program, the Recovery House Association, and community members to ensure the highest quality recovery housing in our communities.

The standards recommended in House Bill

No. 1298 will hopefully lead to increased quality for residents and for neighbors.

In summary, recovery houses fill a void for many of our residents. We look to an ongoing partnership and contractual relationship with the recovery houses who offer an opportunity for safety, recovery environment and support.

We've long ago recognized that funding

treatment alone is not the answer; that there is not one answer to overcoming addiction.

We do believe though that wrapping recovery supports around individuals while in treatment and when they leave traditional treatment offers the best chance at long term recovery.

Recovery houses can be crucial in building a strong foundation for continued abstinence.

Thank you for your attention to thisJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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important issue, for your support, and to the commitment that you have to the citizens of Bucks County, of Pennsylvania, and to the recovery community.

Thank you.

THE CHAIR: Okay, Diane. Thank you.And with that I'm going to open it up for

questions. If any of the members have questions for any of our testifiers today.

Representative Dean.REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Thank you,

Mr. Chairman, for all of the organization of testimony and, Representative Farry, for the legislation that you're proposing.

I guess my first question was toMr. Pizzo.

In terms of just practically speaking, or specifically speaking, if I run a boarding house in Middletown Township versus I run a recovery house, what are the regulations that I would be under in terms of the safety and wellbeing of the people who live in my

boarding house versus the safety and wellbeing of the people who live in my recovery house?

JOSEPH W. PIZZO: The township would have the opportunity to both adopt and enforce inspections of the boarding house or any sort of similar multifamily


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dwelling, apartment houses, hotels, motels, on in most cases an annual basis.

You're doing basic fire safety inspections, making sure that all of the smoke detectors are functioning, the fire alarm systems are operating, that emergency exits are clearly marked, that they're not

obstructed in any way.In the case of facilities that might have

cooking or plumbing, making sure that those continue to function. With apartment houses oftentimes in Middletown and Bensalem the inspections are done on a change of tenancy.

So the annual lease comes due, the renter moves out, a new renter moves in.

That apartment is inspected to make sure that it meets basic health and safety codes to make sure that everything, again, as to basic fire safety functions.

Conversely, a recovery house is operated -- in the case where it's being operated in a single family house, the township has no more right to go into that house to do an inspection than it does to go into your house.

Under federal housing laws a family, as it

is defined for housing purposes and for purposes ofJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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individuals with disabilities, you don't have to be related by blood.

So the individuals residing in the house can be unrelated.

And as long as you're sharing a single kitchen or common cooking facilities, that it's not like

efficiency apartments, and that you are functioning as a family unit, that at night everybody goes to their

bedroom and sleeps and during the day everybody gathers around the kitchen table to eat, or retires to the den to watch TV, you're a family.

And in those instances, the township no more in theory wants to go into that house than it does any other house to make sure that what's going on there

completely and entirely complies with code.But what the township has experienced over

the years is, again, in some cases a house with four bedrooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms is occupied by six or seven individuals in recovery.

For all intent and purposes no one, again, aware that it's even there functioning as a recovery house.

There's not an inordinate number of cars coming and going during the day, the number of people living in the house is consistent with the size and


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nature of the structure with the makeup of the single family neighborhood.

When you turn around and take that same house with four bedrooms, kitchen, two bathrooms and now

put two sets of bunk beds in each bedroom, and now that house is suddenly housing 15 individuals, all of whom may have or some of whom may have cars, it now changes the nature and complexity of that structure within the neighborhood both in terms of the impact on the number of people coming and going, the number of cars, the general

activity that's seen around the house.And, conversely, you now have 15 people

who you have to now try and get out of a house that wasn't designed for that many people in a fire. Four people trying to get out of a bedroom that has one doorway or maybe one hallway.

If this were a boarding house, the township would require X number of fire escapes and fire extinguishers to be located at appropriate intervals and exits properly marked.

That same structure, if it's being used as a house, as a recovery home, the township doesn't get the ability to go in there and do any of that.

REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Does that mean the

township might not know that's a recovery house?

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Is there no obligation to come to the township and say, I'm going to be operate in my mom's old five-bedroom house as a recovery house? I have no obligation to tell the township that?

JOSEPH W. PIZZO: No more than you're obligated to tell the township that you're moving into a house with your husband and children.

REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: But in this case

it's for the exchange of commerce, though. There's money being paid, you know, whether it's sort of leasehold or whatever we call it.

JOSEPH W. PIZZO: That is one of the more frustrating aspects for neighboring property home owners to understand in those cases where the recovery home has

become a source of contention within the neighborhood.Why is it not a commercial endeavor? Why

are they not treated as a commercial property rather than a residential property and, therefore, not allow in the

first place because of zoning?Or why aren't they held to the standards

that we talked about for an apartment or a boarding house or a nightclub or a whatever as opposed to a single family residence.

The answer is because the law says you treat it as a house.


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REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Okay.JOSEPH W. PIZZO: So when you first move

in, in most townships in Lower Bucks County you get a use and occupancy permit.

The property is inspected for the purposes of issuance of a use and occupancy permit and after that you can live in that house for the next 3 0 years without the township ever setting foot in it again.

REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Thank you very much.JOSEPH W. PIZZO: Certainly.REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: May I ask one other

question of another testifier?THE CHAIR: Go ahead.REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: I believe it's Amy,

the researcher.I was interested in your research, in

particular I guess you said that you focused on 25 participating houses in Philadelphia out of more than

2 00, maybe as many as 3 00.AMY MERICLE: Uh-huh.REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: How did you come up

with that sampling? And does that tell you something about the houses you did not have the opportunity to research?

AMY MERICLE: Yes.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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So the sampling was kind of a surprise for the study. We thought that we had lists of all the recovery homes in Philadelphia because the city had mapped out the recovery resources available in the City of Philadelphia.

And there was a separate list that we used that was kept by the Philadelphia Association of Recovery Residences. And like I said in the testimony, those lists together came up out to about 300 houses.

However, when we started to call the houses to verify that sampling frame, we found that many of the houses had closed, many of the houses had changed from serving males to serving females.

So I think the Philadelphia, the Department of Office of Addiction Services did a fantastic job doing that mapping study, but the landscape of recovery homes in Philadelphia changes so frequently that it's really hard to keep a pulse on how many houses there are, where they're located, and the types of clients that they're serving.

REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: And my other thought is, have you had a chance to look sort of backward and

look to the future in terms of numbers?I think everybody testifying here tells us

that this is on the increase, that drug and alcoholJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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addiction is something that is epidemic, particularly the prescription drug epidemic that I think is so relevant and tragic for our youth, our young people.

So the need for good treatment programs

and adequate and safe recovery houses is only on the increase. Do you see that also in Philadelphia?

AMY MERICLE: Yes. We see that the need is on the increase.

However, what we found in our study was that the number of houses was actually declining; that many houses that were on that list had closed and were no longer operating.

So as the need is increasing -- I mean, the need has been great for decades and it is increasing, but the resources available to address that need are still insufficient.

REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Thank you, Amy. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.

THE CHAIR: Amy, could you just real quick, one quick question.

Have you found on recovery houses any effect on the quality of number because of the general assistance cuts that were put into effect last year by the State of Pennsylvania?

AMY MERICLE: Yeah. So we didn't study

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that specifically, although our study took place around the same time that cuts were affected.

So I think that there probably was a relationship, but like I said, we didn't, you know, ask the operators specifically why their houses were closing or what happened. So I can't say definitively.

THE CHAIR: I'd like to qualify that.I've been told and heard from a number of

sources that those general assistance payments, although there wasn't a whole lot of money, that a lot of people that were seeking treatment or in recovery were using that money to help pay the recovery houses payments.

So from what I'm hearing, it's had a pretty big effect.

AMY MERICLE: Yes. I think that you're correct, that the general assistance funds did help defray cost of housing and that it has made it more difficult for people who need housing in recovery to get

housing and as a result it's possible that houses have closed.

THE CHAIR: Okay. Thank you.For Joe Pizzo, just a quick question, Joe.You mentioned two types of recovery

houses, for-profit and not-for-profit.From your experience, have you seen any


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difference between the for-profit and the not-for-profit in the number of complaints or problems that each one has

gotten in the townships that you've been solicitor?JOSEPH W. PIZZO: I have not. But that's

certainly not a scientific sampling by any stretch of the imagination.

What I would caution, because I don't want to inadvertently paint an inaccurate picture, we do have

instances in those townships that I've represented and do represent where the operators of group homes do come and contact the township and do, A, make us aware of their presence and, B, do invite the township in to inspect to make sure that the structure meets fire codes primarily, to make sure that their residents can safely be evacuated in the event of an emergency, particularly a fire in the house.

And so it's -- and that's meaningful forthe township.

And Representative Farry can probably speak to it a little better than I can, we had an incident in Middletown a few years ago where a house in Levittown was being operated as a recovery home.

There were, I believe 14, that's the number I understand, individuals in recovery who were residing in that house.


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A fire occurred.The first responders were not aware, had

no idea as to the number of people that were living in the house or how the house was being used.

And you're creating a situation not only where the lives of the residents are being unnecessarily

put at risk, but the lives of the first responders as well.

Because you're not prepared when you first get there for a fire that may have up to 14 people living

in the house.And, obviously, the demands on the first

responders are significantly different when you know that you are going to be battling an apartment house fire or a boarding house fire than a fire where you only anticipate four, five, six people, maybe a dog and a cat.

So that is meaningful. That information is meaningful to the people who will be responding in terms of police and fire as to what they might anticipate in an emergency situation at that house as well.

Again, there is no obligation, however, but we do find particularly for group homes that house individuals with disabilities that are of a more physical nature where those individuals may have difficulty

getting out of the house in an emergency.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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The operators of those homes are obviously more than happy to have the township involved in helping

to facilitate a fire safety plan, making sure that the house meets fire codes on a regular basis to ensure the safety of their residents.

THE CHAIR: Representative O'Neill.REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Thank you.Thank you for being here, Joe. I have

several questions, but since you're sitting there, in answering Representative Dean's, some of her questions you said it's a matter of law.

Were you referring to federal law or statelaw?

JOSEPH W. PIZZO: Federal law is interpreted by the courts both of this Commonwealth and at the federal level, the Supreme Court.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: So it could be some federal civil rights ruling or something that is prohibiting townships and so forth from doing this?

JOSEPH W. PIZZO: That's correct.REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Well, you're

probably going to say no, but I'll ask you the question anyway.

Would the state be able to enact laws to govern safety issues and that sort of thing in regulating


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this without violating that civil law -- or that federal law or ruling?

JOSEPH W. PIZZO: I believe so. The test I believe the courts will apply is whether the regulation

is content neutral both on its face and in its application.

When a municipality is taking a zoning ordinance or a building ordinance and through its

application of that ordinance creating a de facto prohibition from that facility from locating within the township or within a neighborhood within the township, the courts have looked at that with a very, very

jaundiced eye and said no, no.On its face it may be content neutral but

in fact you are discriminating.In terms of the legislation that

Representative Farry is introducing, we're not talking about stopping anyone from locating anywhere.

What we're saying is, is that the nature of this use, the nature of the use of this single family home or the nature of this use in this neighborhood is such that it puts, A, additional demands on the resources of the township, but more importantly, there are a class of individuals who will be residing in that house,

individuals with disability who are a protected class andJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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who are, I believe, in need of the protections that these regulations afford to make sure that where they are living is safe and habitable; that that can't be viewed as being discriminatory.

And, in fact, if anything it should be viewed as seeking to advance the purposes. The need for the recovery homes I don't think anyone can dispute as you've heard from the testimony today.

The ability to transition individuals out of treatment and out of the judicial system back into society, putting them back where they came from in the first place, would seem to be an indication that the behavior or the demons, if you will, that led to the addiction in the first place will probably be found there again.

And thus the recovery home becomes a transition, a way to transition out of the system but also away from those areas where the problems arose in

the first place.So the need is clearly there.The issue becomes, again, that in the

course of the operating of these facilities there are, just like any other business of any other nature, there are those who operate facilities that are above board and go the extra mile and there are those who clearly see a


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profit motive at the end.And those are the instances -- and there

may be other reasons as well for taking and maybe just getting one or two extra beds in that house, maybe getting one or two extra people in that facility, and the township has no ability to turn around and say -- or I

shouldn't say no -- but very limited ability to say no, you can't do that or no, if you're going to have this

many people in here it requires this, this and this.And in those instances where the township

maybe want to dig in and say we're going to require this, the township at least knows at the outset that it's staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.

That the township will likely find itself going in front of the PHRC or the EEOC or straight to state or federal court on the basis that we are discriminating against either that facility or the individuals in it.

And that becomes the conundrum here if you will. Because the township can't do all of those police powers that I read to you at the start of my statement for fear of finding itself on the wrong end of the

lawsuit.It may not be a lawsuit that we lose but,

again, it comes at a cost to the township.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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Any time the township finds itself on the opposite end of a lawsuit, there is -- there is a cost both in real dollars and in terms of everything else that comes with being sued.

So Representative Farry's legislation I would hope is going to give the township and perhaps the state, however it all comes out in the wash, the ability to say that at a minimum where a recovery home is being

operated, these housing code, these property maintenance code, these fire code requirements have to be met irrespective whether that structure is a single family home located in the middle of Levittown or a row home

located in a neighborhood in Philadelphia or a farmhouse located in the center of Lancaster County.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Thank you.And I guess I would be correct in stating

that if House Bill 1298 does become law, the department does regulate recovery houses in an applicable manner

that provides safety for those living there and the residents and so forth, and giving the township the

authority to make sure it's safe, that the local authorities would not be permitted to say you can't have a recovery house next to an elementary school, you can't have it next to a playground, you can't have it next to a

bar, you know, because people in the recovery houseJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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they're trying to recover from such things so it doesn't make any sense having it next to a bar where they would be tempted.

Would I be correct in stating that, that his bill would not give the local department the ability to do that, to give the township those authorities?

JOSEPH W. PIZZO: I'm certainly not the author of the bill, but I don't believe that it would. I believe your statement is consistent.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: I was just thinking the federal government would probably shoot that down.

Okay. Great. Thank you. I appreciateit.

JOSEPH W. PIZZO: Sure.REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: I have a few more

questions if I can.Not for Joe. Thank you, Joe.JOSEPH W. PIZZO: Thank you.REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Someone can

correct me if I'm wrong. I'm one of those people who was ignorant when I walked in here about the difference

between a halfway house and a recovery house.From listening to the definitions, am I

correct in saying a recovery house is specifically forJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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recovery and treatment from some sort of substance abuse and a halfway house is a facility for those who have been

adjudicated or in the system in some way; is that correct?

THE CHAIR: I'll let Ted come up andanswer that.

TED MILLARD: In Bucks County there are two halfway houses. That's all. One is called Good Friends, Incorporated. That's based in Falls Township, Pennsylvania.

One is called Liberte, Incorporated, which is based in Bensalem Township. Two halfway houses in Bucks County.

Everything else you're talking about

today, everything else in that packet is talking about a recovery house.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: I understand that, but that wasn't my question. What I'm trying to get at is, is a halfway house strictly dealing with those who have been adjudicated and in the system?

TED MILLARD: In Pennsylvania, a drug and alcohol halfway house is a licensed treatment facility; whereas a recovery house is not licensed and is not a treatment facility.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: So theoreticallyJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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someone who's seeking substance abuse recovery could be in either a halfway house that deals with that or a recovery house?

TED MILLARD: If a person is assessed by law in this state through the Pennsylvania Client Placement Criteria they can be assessed to go to inpatient, outpatient, halfway house, all of the realm of the criteria that was referenced by Gary Tennis.

That does not include recovery housing.It is not an assessed treatment provider or location.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: That would lead down to the road a few more questions then. Staffing.

Are recovery houses required to have 24-hour staffing professionals on the premises? Do they do the actual recovery in the house, or do they go somewhere else to do it and it's just a housing unit?What is -

TED MILLARD: Shall I refer to the

solicitor's comments who basically said a house has been treated as a family unit. So a family unit does not require anything.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Okay. And your

two halfway houses in Bucks County that are drug treatment facilities, are they required, since you're licensed, to have the fire inspections and safety and all


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that sort of thing?TED MILLARD: On an annual basis the code

enforcement officer will come in and look at everything from our ovens to our electrical system to our pull boxes and to everything else that we have.

Just like any other business that gets regulated in the township.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Great. Well, I

think that's important to have that on the record then. Thank you. I appreciate that.

You may be able to answer this question. Representative Davis asked me to ask this question on her behalf.

Are recovery houses -- and I'm assuming the answer is no from what I'm hearing -- are recovery houses employees required to have any employee or resident background checks?

TED MILLARD: I'm assuming, again, I'll refer to the solicitor, his comments would seem to tell us that it's a family house, single house unit.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Okay.TED MILLARD: Speaking of, again, the

testimony here talked about and I -- what a passionate council person, it's great to have it, but when it comes up to have 42, you know, the township -- I think the


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quote was we are being inundated with halfway houses.In your packet there's a comment, written

comment from a citizen who talks about halfway houses.It would be great if we could get under

the impression that this bill and what the topic of this bill is recovery housing; whereas halfway houses are a

licensed treatment program.REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Thank you.

TED MILLARD: It's hard as we talked about in my testimony to get there, but I appreciate the idea that one day we will get there.

REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Great. Thank youvery much.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

THE CHAIR: I would also like to recognize Pat Mallon, who's the chairman of the board of supervisors of Middletown.

Pat, if maybe I could ask you to come up and just say hello and address the committee.

PAT MALLON: Sure. Well, first off, as you know, my name's Pat Mallon. I'm chairman of the Middletown Board of Supervisors. And on behalf of Middletown, welcome to Middletown.

I want to thank you for coming here today

and I want to thank you for taking on this issue. Very,JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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very frustrating to deal with at a local government level and I appreciate what Representative Farry has done.

He and I were pretty much at the epicenter of this issue in Middletown, and some of the questions that Mr. O'Neill raised are some of the questions that both our residents raise and I raised.

You know, this has been a topic at several of our public board of supervisors meetings. I also held meetings in the public with some of the residents that had concerns.

And my biggest concern, and I believe that the true concern of our residents is, we all recognize the fact that these facilities are needed.

We all recognize the fact that there are

people that are addicted to prescription drugs, alcohol, and other intoxicants and addictive substances.

The issue and the concern that I have is there's no governance. There's no governance. I could leave here today with no background in any kind of mental health, health care, addictions, and set up a recovery home.

And, you know, you were elected and I was elected for one reason, and that is to serve our community and serve our constituents, and it's very frustrating when you have an issue -- and it's


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frustrating not just for our residents, but to me it's frustrating for the residents of these facilities.

Because I cannot look our citizens in the eye and say that I'm doing my job to, one, protect them and, two, to protect those individuals that are in these recovery homes, because there is no governance.

And we have tried and Solicitor Pizzo mentioned that, you know, we could be called in front of a court or a hearing with the Pennsylvania Human Services Commission. And we were. And we were.

And we were called in front of them and we spent taxpayer money to defend that case because we issued a housing permit. Not because we didn't issue a housing permit.

We issued the housing permit. But we asked some questions. And we required the builder and the owner of this recovery home to make some adjustments.

Why? To protect our citizens and to protect the individuals that were in the recovery home.We still got called to court. We still had to pay taxpayer money to defend ourselves.

So it is a difficult issue. It is a challenging issue. I applaud all of you for your efforts and your interest.

Again, it's a situation that I agree and IJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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know you agree requires these facilities to be in place, but they should only be in place if they are, one, helping the individuals that are there and, two, protecting the residents that live within their

proximity.And I don't feel as a government official

that the way the law is constructed today that we can -and I mean we as a governing body both at the local

level, state level and federal level can say that.That's all I wanted to say. Thank you.THE CHAIR: Okay. Pat, thank you.Any of the other members have any

questions?Representative Kinsey.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Amy, do you want

to come back up here, please.I just have a few questions.I believe in the executive summary that we

received the second paragraph states, Recovery residents are sober, safe and healthy living environments that

promote recovery from AOD use and associated problems.With that in mind, and you talked about

doing the sampling study in the City of Philadelphia, I think it was for 25 homes. Specific to that sampling study, I just have some questions.


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The first question is, you know, when I hear about recovery residents being sober, safe and healthy living environments -- so part of my question is staff training.

Was that documented or noted in the study that you conducted? And I'm asking that question because it seems to be that it's not a licensed facility so who mandates, regulates, offers the training for those individuals?

AMY MERICLE: That's a very good question.

Because recovery residences don't necessarily have to have staff. So there's some recovery residences, for example, Oxford Houses that are known to be staff-free.

They are run by the residents, it's a community that they live together, they govern themselves, but there are also different types of recovery residences that do have staff members.

And there's a continuum of staff oversight

that could be implemented in these houses. Most houses in Philadelphia do have some amount of staffing.

The houses in our study, I think that all of them had some staff member, either a paid staff member who was there during the day, some had multiple staff members.

But by definition, recovery residencesJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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don't necessarily have to have staff members.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: So who would make

that determination as to whether or not to staff or -who makes that determination to staff or not to staff?

AMY MERICLE: So there is a growing movement for recovery residences to become self monitored

and supervised.So, for example, in Philadelphia, there's

the Philadelphia Association of Recovery Residences and the Office of Addiction Services has developed standards for houses.

So in the Philadelphia Association of

Recovery Residence guidelines, if they want to be a Level 2 home, they do have to have staff members.

Different houses who have different services delivered would have more staff members. And it's basically determined based on the needs of the residents.

In Philadelphia the Office of Addiction Services also provides training for recovery home

operators.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: I think you also

talked earlier in regards to with that study help -- I believe that there was a perception, a stigma and a perception.


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And then I'm also hearing from other testifiers that there's not a requirement to notify neighbors or such that there's a recovery home there.

So I guess my question leads to since the stigma and perception exists, was there any indication in your study that showed that the owner or operator or even the folks that were part of that recovery home reached out to the community either to make them aware that they were a recovery home, there was a recovery home there, or even just to have some type of interaction with the

neighbors to try to change that stigma or perception?Did you find that?

AMY MERICLE: That's a really goodquestion, too.

So we found that a lot of homes did proactively try to engage the community; that they made sure that they were out shoveling snow; that they were picking up trash; that they were a positive force in the community.

But we also found houses that, you know, wanted to keep a low profile. They didn't want folks to know that they were a recovery home because they were

concerned about possible backlash.So, you know, these two competing

strategies that these recovery home operators had to, youJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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know, choose from in order to keep their house open.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Okay. My last

question is, one of the testifiers had talked about -- in fact, it was Diane Rosati -- who shared with us that for the, I think the recovery homes that are under Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission, that they basically set some contractual requirements, and I think there were six bullets that were listed.

So I want to thank you, Diane, for sharingthat.

And I guess my question to you is that, that appears to me it sort of set some type of standard, even though the municipalities may not necessarily be able to, but Diane's organization was able to set some standards for their members.

In your study were there certain

standards, did you see certain similarities in regards to like having certain protocols, you know, the house rules, residency requirements, or policies in place?

Did you see that standard also? Because, again, I think that is necessary to have some type of standards that folks operate by as opposed to having each individually arbitrarily choose what they will and will not do.

So in your studies, did you find theJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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similarities or some protocols in place that was sort of the standard -

AMY MERICLE: Yes. We specifically asked houses whether or not they had rules and regulations

about residents using services on the site, off the site, whether or not they had rules of residents participating

in house meetings, things like that.And most houses did have rules and

procedures in place. And I think that's to the credit of the Office of Addiction Services in Philadelphia who does the training on recovery residences.

But I also want to share the floor

hopefully with Fred Way, who is the director of the Philadelphia Association of Recovery Residences, PARR, and the vice president of the National Association of Recovery Residences that developed the standards that the Philadelphia Association of Recovery Residences adopted.

So if Fred could come up and talk about those standards, that might help clarify some of your questions.

REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Sure. And I guess clearly what I'm leading to or what I'm getting at is, if

those members did not follow those practices or guidelines, then what would be -- you know, what would be

the result if they just simply again arbitrarily chose toJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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not follow those guidelines and just do it their way?Were there any type of -

FRED WAY: Any kind of infractions?REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Yes.

FRED WAY: No. Okay. In Philadelphia you have -- for instance, the gentleman who asked about 24-hour staff supervision.

Okay. In Philadelphia that would be a Level 2 house. Okay? That's a monitored house which are run typical by OAS. Okay? Which is 24-hour staff supervision 365 days a year, but that's also a funded house. Okay?

REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: I'm sorry. You said it is funded?

FRED WAY: It's a funded house, right. Philadelphia has 18 funded houses that the Office of Addiction -

REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: These are recovery homes that are funded?

FRED WAY: Yes. Yes, they are recoveryhomes.

REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Okay. Level 2, is

this -- I'm looking at this page.FRED WAY: The National Standards.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: It goes from


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Level 1 to Level 4?FRED WAY: Level 4, right.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Okay. I didn't

realize there was funding -- I didn't realize that they were funded.

FRED WAY: Yes. 18 out of, you know, 300 houses in Philadelphia are funded.

REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Were funded. Sothe other -

FRED WAY: Are unfunded.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Are unfunded. So

the other -

FRED WAY: Self maintained.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Okay.

FRED WAY: Client fees, food stamps, youknow.

REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Who decides which property gets funded versus which ones do not get funded then?

FRED WAY: Well, about 10 years, 10, 15 years ago the office, which used to be called CODAP, okay, did an RFP for the recovery house contracts.

REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Okay.FRED WAY: And most of those houses -- it

started out with 21. Now it's down to 18.JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: So, again, then I can just go and say I want to open up a recovery home, and if I'm going to utilize the clients who I'm going to provide who are going to live there, I can just more or

less charge them a fee, open up a recovery home unlicensed and just simply say that's my business?

FRED WAY: Unfunded, yes.REPRESENTATIVE KINSEY: Unfunded, right.

THE CHAIR: We're going to have the last question, quick question from Representative Frank Farry.

REPRESENTATIVE FARRY: Fred, you guys have a voluntary certification program, correct, that you do

in Philadelphia?FRED WAY: Yes. Yes.REPRESENTATIVE FARRY: I was wondering if

it was possible maybe you can forward us the documentation, like the standards to get the certifications in Philadelphia.

FRED WAY: Do you want the standards or the inspection sheet that we use?

REPRESENTATIVE FARRY: Both would be greatactually.

FRED WAY: Okay.REPRESENTATIVE FARRY: Because I think

that will be helpful in the event that this becomes law;JAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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maybe the regulations that are enacted by Department of Drugs and Alcohol can actually model them after what you

do in Philadelphia.FRED WAY: Sure. I mean, with the thing

about it right now, it's also crossing the state. Okay?I have houses in Pottstown, and Harrisburg and Pittsburgh

has contacted me also.REPRESENTATIVE FARRY: I read the article

in the Inquirer about six weeks ago or whatever. So that was a good article and good work you're doing. So thank you.

FRED WAY: You're welcome. Thank you.REPRESENTATIVE FARRY: I would just like

to thank everybody. Thank, Middletown, again for hosting us here today and I want to thank everybody for their testimony. I thought it was a very good hearing.

THE CHAIR: And if I could just wrap up real quick. Again, as Frank said, thank you to everybody who was here today.

And just a couple of sentences from testimony that's in your packet from Deb Beck, who is the director of the Drug and Alcohol Service Providers

Association. I think it's really important.Although people with alcohol and other

drug addictions come from all walks of life andJAMES DeCRESCENZO REPORTING, LLC

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socioeconomic sectors, some will always be in need of supportive, sober housing after completion of treatment for addiction in a licensed treatment programs, including inpatient hospital, inpatient nonhospital and licensed halfway houses.

For this group, transition to sober living recovery houses is extremely helpful in stabilizing early recovery as they continue treatment in outpatient, maintain AA and NA attendance and begin work or job searches.

And I think we heard a lot of really, really good testimony today. One of the things I think was important for the committee to hear is the distinction or difference between a halfway house and a recovery house.

And I thought many of the members were

unclear about that one issue. So it's important that we learned that.

I also think it's important, you know, I hear from Amber and Pat and, you know, I hear your

passion and, you know, about how you want to protect your community, and we understand that.

And I think what we need to do now is take Representative Farry's bill, take what we heard today, and try to strike a balance between, you know, you


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protecting your communities and also allowing these recovery houses in your communities, because they're

really needed.I mean, we just absolutely have an

epidemic out there especially of prescription drug and opiate abuse and addiction and a heroin problem out there.

So these recovery houses and halfway houses are absolutely needed, and what we want to try to do is strike a balance between, you know, protecting the community and the need in the community.

So we're going to take the testimony we

heard from you. Thank you again. We're going to take that back and hopefully come up with a good bill that we

hope to get passed in the legislature.Again, thank you, and everybody have a

great day.(Proceedings concluded at 12:00 noon.)


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CERTIFICATION

I, BARBARA McKEON QUINN, a Registered Merit Reporter and Notary Public in and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, hereby certify that the

foregoing is a true and accurate transcript of the hearing by me on the date and place herein before set forth.

I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am neither attorney nor counsel for, not related to nor employed by any of the parties to the action in which this hearing

was taken; and further that I am not a relative or employee of any attorney or counsel employed in this action, nor am I financially interested in this case.

tOoooooOoi u y O t / oOoOOoOOOoOOOoBARBARA McKEON QUINNRegistered Merit Reporter and Notary Public


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