Ohio committee hears broad support for House Bill 58 to regulate recovery housing

The House Community Revitalization Committee held a hearing on House Bill 58 on Wednesday to consider a state certificate‑of‑need program for recovery housing, hearing testimony from prosecutors, county commissioners, local officials and treatment‑system managers who said unregulated growth of recovery homes has strained emergency services and produced unsafe living conditions for some residents.

Supporters told the committee that HB 58 would require registration, allow local Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAM) boards to inspect and investigate facilities, create a local complaint process and provide a funding mechanism for oversight. "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," said Shane Tinneman, the Scioto County prosecuting attorney, who testified that bad actors in treatment and recovery housing have harmed neighborhoods and overburdened first responders.

Why it matters: witnesses said the number of recovery houses has grown rapidly in parts of southern Ohio and that current state lists and certification processes are incomplete or inconsistent, leaving counties unable to track locations, staffing or bed counts. Susan Schultz, executive director of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Adams, Lawrence and Scioto counties, told the panel her board's combined area now shows 201 recovery houses (11 in Adams, 80 in Lawrence and 110 in Scioto) per state lists, and around 1,600 beds across the three counties. Sheriff David Thurlman submitted a county list that showed 77 facilities and 871 beds for Scioto County alone; witnesses and committee members noted those figures do not match and said the mismatch complicates oversight and planning.

Testimony…