SOBER LIVING HOUSING

AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
A recovering alcoholic, Pat W., started the 512 Fellowship Twelfth Step Home in 1948. This
was the first sober living home of record in Los Angeles County. Many other twelve-step
homes opened during the fifties and sixties and were the only residential recovery resource
available to indigent alcoholics. Many of these historical homes are still operating. For
example, Friendly House and the Original 12 Step Home will celebrate fifty years of service
next year. The 512 Fellowship became the Mary Lind Foundation that now operates three
recovery hotels.
During the seventies many of the twelve step homes were converted into state licensed and
county contracted residential recovery homes. These homes were the foundation of
Californias social model movement during the seventies and early eighties.
During the eighties and early nineties the Los Angeles County Office of Alcohol Programs
provided one time funding to start approximately 60 alcohol and drug-free living centers
(sober living homes). Contract providers developed and managed most of these homes. A
1993 Los Angeles Times article that highlighted some poorly managed homes ended the
Countys involvement in developing sober living.
The development and operation of sober living homes experienced rapid growth during the
nineties. Below are a few of the underlying reasons for this grassroots movement.

The 1988 amendments to the Federal Fair Housing Law added persons with disabilities
as a protected class. Alcoholics and recovering addicts were included in the definition of
the disabled. Fair housing protection for recovering alcoholics and addicts stimulated the
grassroots recovering community to develop and operate sober living housing.

Government funded alcohol and drug treatment programs have not been able to meet
the growing recovery needs of the medically indigent. The LA County Alcohol and Drug
Program Administration funds the less than 2,000 residential treatment beds that are
presently available to serve those with little or no income.

Finding affordable housing is particularly difficult for low-income recovering persons. It

takes on an average, $1,500 in up-front money to rent a modest single in most parts of
Southern California.

Rooming and boarding houses were land use planned and zoned almost out of
existence over the last thirty years. Sober housing is a movement to replace this
devastating loss.

There are now 400 sober living homes in Los Angeles County that deserves to be
recognized as essential recovery support resources. These homes assist recovering
persons by creating a democratic culture, instilling self-help learning activities and
promoting individual responsibility.
Paper prepared by the Sober Living Network
Telephone (310) 396-5270 Email: slnetwork@earthlink.net: Website: www.soberhousing.net