Neighbor Karen Gregory and others noticed that a series of apparently uninhabited and unrelated people had started living there. Things quickly deteriorated.

“They were dealing drugs. There was trash on the streets. Mattresses in the alleyways,” she said. “People came to the front yard, twisted the hose, bathed, dressed, and left.”

It was quite out of character for this dead end. When Gregory asked about it, he was told it was a “home for a sober life.”

If you’ve been following the Arizona news lately, this phrase should ring a bell. In May, Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Chris Mays announced a crackdown on fraudulent claims by sober families.

They focused on the most outrageous activities of this flourishing business. The operators of these homes, purported to be temporary housing for people overcoming addictions, have apparently begun to kick Native Americans off the streets, register them as residents, and charge them to the state’s Medicaid program.

At the time, reimbursement for outpatient treatment for tribe members was astronomical, up to $1,300 per day. But Mays said part of that plan often didn’t even serve clients. In other cases, operators didn’t even have actual customers, they just bought lists of people with their identities and claimed them to be residents being served.

In fiscal 2019, the state’s Medicaid program paid $53.9 million for this type of outpatient behavioral health service. Just three years later, Medicaid paid him $668 million for the same category of services.

“It’s not just Phoenix,” Mays told me on Friday. “It’s happening in Tucson and Pima County.”

She said investigators found at least 10 illicit businesses in the Tucson area. But the problem is not just for Native Americans.

“People are drawn to these facilities across demographic categories,” she says. “There is also a lot of ghost billing going on.”

Not all sober living homes are scams. They often serve a legitimate purpose of helping people in recovery after completing an inpatient program. And some homes known by that phrase don’t actually fit into that category under the state licensing system.

Under state law, medical services are not provided to those living in humble households.As Arizona Health Department Explainsthey may “provide a group of unrelated individuals recovering from a substance use disorder with a supervised environment and activities aimed primarily at recovery from substance use disorders.”

Mays also referred to another category, “residential facilities for behavioral health,” when discussing sobriety housing scams. These differ from state laws in that behavioral health services must be provided on-site.

The difference often goes unnoticed. On Friday, I stopped by several houses on the east side that neighbors flagged as possible sober ones, including one just southwest of Broadway and Houghton Road. When I knocked on the door, the person inside admitted that it was a “home of sober living.”

But then the owner of the house called me and mocked the classification. It’s a residential facility for behavioral medicine, he said. He said the facility only recently opened and has clients from reputable local behavioral health organizations such as COPE and La Frontera.

Neighbors of the house, about a mile away from the house described by Karen Gregory, were also unhappy with the house. They said people would gather outdoors to smoke, talk loudly in the middle of the night, and walk in and out of their homes frequently. Strange and unwelcoming in a residential area.

But as a matter of fact, the complaints around this house were less severe. These raise the question of what residents should allow as cities and countries grapple with the addiction epidemic.

We need places where people can go with others and live in supportive housing during recovery. Not always comfortable.

“We have legally licensed behavioral health and substance abuse facilities,” Mays said. “We have a list of what we think of as good actors. They’re there, so we need them to be there. He’s one of the reasons why we need to get rid of the bad guys. Because people need to prosper.”

One of the issues with which homes to classify is what kind of homes they have, whether they are licensed, and whether they are doing the right thing. This is based on state law. ARS 36-2066 Housing requires the health department to provide phone numbers and a list of websites, but the health department is prohibited from disclosing the addresses of these houses.

Will Humblea former state health director and executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, said keeping addresses secret helps protect unscrupulous businesses.

“One of the main factors that makes the licensing system work is facility complaints,” he said. “That part is a serious flaw in accountability. The public has a role to play in holding the system accountable.

However, the law applies only to state health departments, and several Arizona cities have passed their own ordinances requiring licenses for sobriety housing and similar facilities.phoenix pass the ordinance in 2018 Amid a wave of concern and similar ordinances.

But Tucson has nothing of the sort. City Councilman Paul Cunningham, who represents the eastern district where these homes are located, recently met with Mr. Gregory, other residents and the Tucson Police Department to discuss the area’s new modest housing.

Cunningham, who has been through the substance abuse recovery process herself, said she recognizes the need for quality abstinence homes but clearly lacks adequate oversight and information. He plans to discuss sober housing at a future study meeting.

At least an ordinance requiring housing managers to inform the city of their whereabouts would seem like an easy start. That puts the pressure on you to do it right the first time or face the consequences. It also seems wise to mandate some distance between houses.

Gregory eventually got fed up with the house on the street and filed a complaint with the state health department and city enforcement agencies in early March.

On March 27, a city inspector said, “No decor violations were found, four shopping carts and two mattresses were found in the alley behind the property, and requested a special B&B pickup, but also a C of O (Certificate of Occupancy). It also failed to obtain state approval to operate this type of facility.” At this time the group home has sent a notice of violation to the owner. ”

In mid-April the place was empty. When I knocked on the door on Friday, no one answered. And there was nothing unusual about the place.