Ohio lawmakers hear testimony supporting House Bill 58 to regulate recovery housing

The House Community Revitalization Committee held a second hearing on House Bill 58, a proposal to create a certificate-of-need process for recovery housing, where local prosecutors, public-safety officials and recovery-system leaders urged legislators to give local authorities more power to inspect and shut down substandard facilities.

Prosecuting Attorney Shane Tinneman of Scioto County told the committee that growth in recovery housing has been “exponential” and that bad actors operating to “maximize profit at the expense of providing the client with all the tools and resources needed to advance recovery” have harmed neighborhoods and strained first responders. “House Bill 58 also provides a fair mechanism to fund these local efforts and ensures that the locality can handle the needs and issues of this particular industry,” Tinneman said.

The bill would authorize local Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADDM) boards to inspect facilities, investigate complaints and set local limits through a certificate-of-need process, supporters said. Edwin Martel, a former Portsmouth city councilman, said the measure is “pro recovery, pro safety, and pro community,” and urged lawmakers to ensure homes meet basic health and safety standards so…