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Providers and Health Department back different approaches to S.157 certification and oversight for recovery residences
Summary
Supporters — recovery residence operators, treatment providers and the Vermont Foundation for Recovery — urged the Health & Welfare committee to adopt voluntary certification that preserves safety nets; the Department of Health recommended using existing statutory rulemaking authority and limiting landlord-tenant exclusions to certified homes.
The Health & Welfare committee considered S.157 on Wednesday, a bill that would formalize certification standards for recovery residences in Vermont. Providers, recovery-residence networks and the Department of Health each described how certification, engagement beds and rulemaking authority could work together to protect residents and recovery environments.
Jeff Moreau, executive director of the Vermont Alliance for Recovery Residences, told the committee S.157 codifies voluntary certification that many homes already follow. He highlighted recent "reengagement" and "engagement" beds at Serenity House and Valley Vista that provide temporary placements when residents are exited from recovery homes for safety or relapse-related reasons. "This bill codifies that work, and makes it permanent," Moreau said, adding…
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