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Neighbors press Vacaville council for rules on sober-living homes after rise in calls for service
Summary
Multiple Stonegate residents and neighborhood association members told the council that several unregulated sober-living properties have driven up police calls. The city said staff is reviewing the issue and researching ordinance options, with an eye on state law and fair‑housing constraints.
Residents from the Stonegate neighborhood pressed the Vacaville City Council on March 11 to adopt local regulations governing sober-living homes, saying a small set of properties has generated a steep increase in police service calls and disruption to neighbors.
During an extended public comment segment, speakers representing the Stonegate Neighborhood Association presented a spreadsheet and described five properties they identified as confirmed or suspected sober-living homes. One presenter summarized a public-records search that showed calls for service at those five addresses increased from 18 calls across a prior 10-year span to 89 in the following 10-year span; presenters said arrests rose from zero in the earlier period to seven in the later period. Speakers requested a 'common-sense' ordinance to address safety and accountability.
Property owner and developer Andrew Lam, who said he operates a women's medical-respite house and additional sober-living homes, told the council the Stonegate property under discussion is intended as a medical-respite facility to help people recover after serious illnesses. Lam said his program partners with health plans and that, in his experience, residents who left his medical-respite house moved into permanent housing and that police calls to his other homes have been low.
Neighbors pushed back, reading social-media posts and interviews they said showed the owner's earlier statements about commercial motives and expressed concern that a medical-respite label could mask profit-driven increases in sober-living operations.
City Manager and legal staff updated the council on next steps and stressed legal constraints. The city manager said staff is 'actively pursuing every piece of information' and working on how local rules might be framed, but cautioned that past local ordinances in other cities had faced challenges under state and federal fair-housing laws. The city manager said staff are evaluating the legal landscape and will return to council with options once they have clarity on what is legally defensible in light of state law.
Council members asked for an update on the schedule and whether residents could be included in ordinance drafting. Staff said there is no draft ordinance yet and that staff aims to bring a proposal back to the council once the legal analysis and policy options are complete.
Ending: The council closed public comment and directed staff to continue the legal and policy review and return to the council with possible ordinance language and process options. No formal action was taken on March 11.
