Ohio committee hears testimony supporting House Bill 58 to regulate recovery housing

COLUMBUS — Supporters of House Bill 58 told the Ohio House Community Revitalization Committee on Oct. 12 that rapid growth in recovery housing has outpaced local oversight and harmed neighborhoods, and they urged lawmakers to give local agencies a formal inspection and enforcement role.

Shane Tinneman, prosecuting attorney for Scioto County, said the county has seen a substantial increase in recovery housing and a corresponding rise in bad operators. "Ultimately, the goal should be to keep the good actors and eliminate the bad actors," Tinneman said, arguing House Bill 58 would give local officials tools to investigate complaints and inspect facilities.

The bill would create a certificate‑of‑need process for recovery housing and authorize local Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAM) boards to inspect and investigate facilities, supporters said. That structure, witnesses said, would help distribute services more evenly across the state and let counties address sites that generate frequent calls for police, fire and emergency medical services.

Why it matters: Committee witnesses described harms they attribute to unregulated recovery homes — emergency‑service strain, neighborhood complaints, property‑market disruptions and operators they said are motivated primarily by profit. Sheriff David Thurlman of Scioto County told the panel the situation is a public‑safety issue as well as a public‑health one: "This crisis is not just…