Lexington council OKs new regulations for sober living homes in the city
Lexington is the latest Kentucky city to establish local rules for sober living homes.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted unanimously Thursday during its regular meeting to pass regulations requiring sober living home operators to pay a licensing fee and prove they have state certification to operate.
The ordinance would require operators to pay a $200 fee for the first house and $100 for each additional they run. The ordinance also limits the number of residents in each home to eight.
Operators would also have to submit a plan to the city showing how they would help to find new homes for residents if the sober living home were to close. An operator must give residents a 60-day notice if they plan to close a home.
Existing sober living homes will have six months, or until Wednesday, May 20, to come into compliance with the new regulations, according to the ordinance. New homes will also have a six-month period to comply, as state and national certifying bodies require a sober living home to be operational before they can be certified.
The council has been working on the new rules since April, when a work group was established to determine how the city could regulate such residences. A council committee passed the new regulations in mid-October.
Dozens of neighbors told the committee in August that some neighborhoods have been overrun by private, largely for-profit, sober living homes typically used by people who are coming from inpatient treatment centers. City records show there are more than 150 operating in Fayette County.
Many of those homes are concentrated on the city’s north and west sides, a review of records shows. Neighbors said because there are no zoning restrictions on sober living, the homes can pop up with no notice.
Meanwhile, operators and residents of several sober living homes have argued too many regulations could limit or close the residences in Lexington. Many current and former residents told the council in August those homes helped them stay sober.
Other cities in Kentucky have also struggled with how to balance the need for substance abuse treatment with the rapid ramp up of recovery homes in the past several years. Elizabethtown enacted ordinances requiring local certification of recovery residences.
Federal law limits local regulations on sober living facilities
Federal law prohibits cities from restricting where sober living homes can go or from requiring special zoning, such as a conditional-use permit, for recovery housing, lawyers for Lexington have said.
Under the American with Disabilities Act, people with substance use disorders are classified as having a disability, and the federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination them.
That means the city can’t make land-use rules that apply only to entities that serve people with substance use disorders, which would be discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. The city also cannot limit how many sober living homes can be in a neighborhood or a certain area, commonly called a density restriction, city lawyers have cautioned.
