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Fountain Valley reports decline in operating group/sober-living homes after ordinance; dozens remain under review
Summary
Nine months after adopting a group-home/sober-living ordinance, city staff reported 12 permits issued from 16 original applications, 13 additional applications pending, 16 properties sent to the city attorney for abatement and an estimated 57———to——69 operating group/sober-living homes; staff described the enforcement and citation process.
Deputy City Manager Omar Deboi updated the council on enforcement of the city's group-home and sober-living ordinance adopted earlier this year. "Since the passage, we have 31 home that is no longer operating," he told the council, describing a roughly 30-percent reduction in suspected operations since the ordinance took effect.
Staff detailed the enforcement workflow: complaints or reports trigger verification by code enforcement, followed by notification and an opportunity to come into compliance, a special-use-permit (SUP) application, or a request for reasonable accommodation. Where operators do not comply after the notice sequence, cases are referred to the city attorney, which has issued notices to abate for several properties.
Current status provided by staff: 12 use permits issued from the original 16 applications; another 13 SUP applications have been submitted since enforcement began and are under review; nine properties are state-licensed facilities (which are limited by state rules to small client counts) and seven sought reasonable accommodations that were denied and referred to the city attorney. Roughly 16 properties were noncompliant after three notices and have been sent to the city attorney for abatement. Staff estimated 57 to 69 properties currently operating as group/sober-living homes.
Collections and unpaid citations were discussed: city staff said only about six citations have been paid to date; the city uses a third-party collections vendor (Turbo Data) to pursue unpaid fines and late fees, which can escalate to property liens if necessary.
Staff said pending SUPs will proceed through public-hearing processes with notice to neighbors; code enforcement contact information and the preferred reporting channel (codeenforcement@fountainvalley.gov) were provided for residents who want to report suspected violations.
