Sober Living House Neighbor Nightmare

Question

I want to know how people in the addiction treatment industry can sleep at night when they have no problem ruining normal people’s lives while they go home to some rich gated community to sleep at night. What are you supposed to do when the house next door gets sold and instead of a normal family moving in someone opens up a for profit sober living house where the residents get no supervision and it turns into a loud party all the time with dodgy characters driving in and out all day dealing drugs. Things have started going missing from the neighborhood and there have been break in where there were not any before. It is obvious what the source is but the police say they are powerless to do anything about this and they act annoyed that people would even call them up. I have small children and now I am scared to let them play in their own front yard. We are prisoners in our own house! I would not mind if the people in this sober living house were sober but this is a nightmare. How is this right or respecting my rights?

Anna Deeds · Accepted Answer

Thank you for your question. I understand your frustration and anger over that situation. I wouldn't want a poorly run sober living house to be my neighbor either. But a well run sober living house is an asset to the community. It doesn't sound like the sober living house next to you is being run properly. I would try contacting whoever is managing the house. If that does nothing to resolve the situation, contact the the owner or owners of the sober living house. There is a chance they don't realize it isn't being managed properly. If they hired a manager who isn't doing their job, that could be the problem. A good sober living house does drug testing as a part of their treatment. People should be referred to a higher level of care like rehab if they relapse. Sober living does mean everyone in the house is sober. That does not sound like the case in your situation.

I am not sure which state you are in and each state has different laws. The house may need to have a professional license to operate. If it is licensed by the state, you can report it to the state licensing agency. You may have a zoning dispute if they are not zoned to be in a residential neighborhood. If you cannot find a resolution, you may want to seek legal advice. I found this article on your legal rights with neighbor disputes. I hope this helps. Good luck with resolving the situation.

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