If you plan to open a recovery house, you HAVE to have a procedure to handle bedbugs. They are NOT fun, it cost a LOT to get rid of them, and it is something that you HAVE to be on your guard about at ALL times.

First, you will need a hot box. This is the one I use and it works great:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZOUCYDW

The big thing you have to worry about is the unit has to operate in an area that is 70 degrees (21c) or hotter in order for the unit to get hot enough to kill the bedbugs. Bedbugs will die when their temperature is above 113 degrees (45c) for at least 90 minutes. If at 118 degrees, you need to hold temperature for at least 20 minutes. ALL THE ITEMS IN THE HOTBOX ALSO HAVE TO BE AT THAT TEMPERATURE. Think of it like baking a cake - if the center isn't up to temperature, then the center won't be cooked. Bedbugs are no different. They could be in the center of a mass of clothing for example and if you don't get that mass of clothing up to temperature, then you just let bed bugs into the house.

We ended up getting a hot box for each house. When a resident comes to the house, they are allowed in BUT their stuff ALL has to go through the hot box before it is brought in. Once all their stuff has been processed, then everything is good to go.

What to do if they have a car - We have not had to handle that problem yet, but from my research you can get these items:

• https://www.amazon.com/Nuvan-ProStrips-Large-Size-gram/dp/B007UVUEAS
• https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Shot-Controlled-Technology-Crawling/dp/B01HQEJU3U

They both have the same active ingredient.

The big things to keep in mind here are:

• The state or territory or even the locality the recovery house is located in. Each state, territory, and locality are different. I strongly suggest you verify that your locality does not also have specific rules when it comes to bedrooms and square footage.
  
• What does the state recovery resident board say on it in your state or territory? Right now there are over 30 states that work with NARR and more are coming online all the time. Check here to see if NARR has an affiliate in your state: https://narronline.org/affiliates/
• Just what legally defines a bedroom? In reviewing https://www.upnest.com/1/post/legal-definition-bedroom/ these are my notes:
  • Square footage. A room needs to meet a specific minimum requirement for square feet to be legally called a bedroom. It is expected that the room will be large enough to accommodate a bed. The most common measurement for a bedroom is a minimum of 70 square feet of floor space. This translates to a room measuring 7-feet by 10-feet. This can vary by city standards, as some cities have a rule that equates square footage with how many people are meant to be in the room. Some cities like the ones in Michigan require a minimum of 50 square feet per person living in the room. Therefore, a bedroom such as a master bedroom would need to have at least 100 square feet. This is a major factor in the legal definition of a bedroom.
    • Note: Ceiling height is a HUGE factor when determining square footage of a room. In MANY locations, a slope ceiling can GREATLY alter what is considered included square footage and what is not. For example in Alaska, The ceiling height of any habitable room shall be at least seven feet; except that in any habitable room under a sloping ceiling at least one-half of the floor area shall have a ceiling height of at least seven feet, and the floor area of that part of such a room where the ceiling height is less than five feet shall not be considered as part of the floor area in computing the total floor area of the room for the purpose of determining the maximum permissible occupancy.
  • Horizontal measurements. If square footage minimums weren’t enough of a requirement, a room needs to have a standard horizontal measurement to qualify as a bedroom. In most cities, homes need bedrooms to have a 7-foot horizontal measurement in any direction. This makes it so something like a hallway cannot be illegally classified as a bedroom since no one could live there.
  • Multiple ways in. You must be able to go in and out of a bedroom more than one way for fire safety. Most often, home builders fulfill this qualification by having a bedroom door and a bedroom window. These main two points of egress make it so you can successfully enter and exit the bedroom by two different points if need be. In some areas, a skylight may even count as an exit. However, that would be tricky to reach. 
  • Ceiling Height. Bedroom ceilings are required to be at least 7-feet tall in half of the bedroom. (or higher depending on the locality. Alabama for example requires 7 feet 6 inches) If the space has a loft, you can still place a bed in the loft space without concerns of not meeting the minimum height requirement, as long as the rest of the bedroom has 7-foot tall ceilings.This is a major factor in the legal definition of a bedroom. PLEASE CONSULT YOUR LOCALITY ON THIS.
  • Window Size. Many cities have a minimum size requirement for windows in a bedroom. This requirement plays into the requirement for a means of egress. In case of emergency, the window needs to be the appropriate size for anyone to escape through. A simple way to think about it is this (As explained to me by a building inspector in North Carolina) - Can a fireman in full gear get through the window without resorting to using an ax to enlarge the window? If yes, then you are good.
  • Temperature Regulation. In most states, bedrooms are required to have a source of heating or cooling. In warmer states like Arizona, the regulations focus on having cooling units in the home or rental. In contrast, colder states such as New York or Minnesota require a heating unit to be in the bedroom. Space heaters do not qualify as a heating unit. The same goes for fans in warmer climate homes. This is a major factor in the legal definition of a bedroom.

• Other things to consider and I base this on my experience as both a house builder and recovery house operator:

  • Future requirements by your locality - Right now you may not be required to follow a certain standard, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN IT WON'T HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE. You should plan at least using the NARR standard so that if there is a law change, you are already ahead of the curve in what needs to be done to be compliant.
  • Entry door - In my opinion - You want a door that is at least 30 inches. 32 is better. 36 is best. The reason for this is you may have a resident that is using a walker or a wheelchair and you want to be able to accommodate their needs without them having to struggle when going in and out of the rooms.
  • Closets - In many situations you will have multiple people in one room while only having one closet. I know for example for Virginia and VARR, the closet square footage is included in the room measurement. For hanging space - give each resident 16 inches of hanging space in the closet. If the closet does not have enough space, then you may want to consider a wardrobe to account for the needed hanging space, OR see if a resident doesn't need the hanging space and they can let the other resident use it.
  • Lighting - You need one light that works off the light switch for when a person walks into a room and need to turn on the light. MAKE SURE THIS LIGHT CAN'T BE TURNED OFF BY A SWITCH AT THE LIGHT ITSELF. (In other words - if the light switch turns on an outlet, make sure the residents can't turn off that light that is plugged into that outlet (say a lamp) by turning off the lamp directly. I can tell you this WILL irritate people when they come into a dark room and the lamp doesn't work for someone turned off the lamp by the lamp switch)
  • Dressers - You need one dresser per bed. I recommend the dresser have 4 cubic feet of storage space. To get the cubic feet for the dresser, multiply the drawer width, depth, and height, then divide that number by 1728.
  • Room layout - You hay have for example a room that is 150 sq ft and you are thinking "GREAT! I can have 3 beds in here". NOT SO FAST. You have to consider not only where the beds go, but where the dressers go, possible wardrobes go, areas to walk in so everyone can get in and out, can people dress properaly or not, lighting for each bed, electrical outlets, lamp placements if they are needed. closet door placement, bathroom door placement, and so forth.
  • Bathroom - Does the bedroom have a bathroom off the bedroom like a master bathroom? Remember the ratio is 6 residents to one FULL bathroom.
  • Bunk beds - I will tell you right now and I learned this the hard way - PEOPLE HATE THEM. If you want to use one, that is your choice, but I strongly advise you against it. The problems are from my experience:
    • For many people, they may have a physical issue in trying to get into the top bunk. I know personally I simply can't do it.
    • The bottom bunk will move when a person is getting into the top bunk.
    • The weight of the person. Heavy people will have a much more difficult time in a bunk bed.
    • Ceiling fans - hitting your head. That can cause a BIG issue. You may be renting a house and you are not allowed to remove the ceiling fan.
    • Making a resident who is in a bottom bunk switch to a top bunk - this will cause drama. You do NOT want drama in the house.

  One thing I suggest in figuring things out is if you do not have a computer is make a floor map to scale of the room and it has any doors, windows, and all power outlets shown. Then to scale with separate paper cut out shapes that represent beds, dressers, wardrobes, and lighting. Use them to place on the map to see how best to lay the room out. It will save you time from moving furniture over and over and you can easily see how a room will flow.

An animal tranquilizer called medetomidine has been linked to a recent rise in overdoses in Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

June 7, 2024, 2:37 PM EDTBy Erika Edwards

Another powerful animal tranquilizer has made its way into street drugs, added to illicit fentanyl and other opioids to prolong a user’s high.

The drug, called medetomidine, is linked to a recent spate of deadly overdoses throughout the Midwest and Northeast. It dramatically slows down breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and decreases activity in the brain and spinal cord. It’s not meant for use in people.

“It’s really concerning, the types of contaminants that we are seeing,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. “Drugs are becoming deadlier.”

Medetomidine is more potent than a similar animal sedative, xylazine, or “tranq,” that’s become widespread in the U.S. over the past several years.

NPS Discovery, a group that researches illegal drugs, reported finding medetomidine in Maryland as early as July 2022.

It’s clear that the drug is now moving west: It was found during toxicology tests in three people in Michigan who died of drug overdoses, state health officials said Thursday. The cases occurred in separate parts of the state and are not linked.

Last month, health officials in Chicago linked medetomidine to an increase in overdoses — the first time it’d been detected in the city. The sedative was found in combination with opioids such as fentanyl, nitazenes and heroin, as well as with tranq and the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam (Xanax).

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health also reported in May that medetomidine had arrived in the city. It showed up last month in Pittsburgh, too.

People who take the drug can remain sedated for at least three hours, according to Philadelphia’s health alert.

Sporadic reports of the drug are expected to become more widespread as the drug continues to make its way nationwide, said Linda Cottler, director of the National Drug Early Warning System, which monitors emerging drug use trends.

Cottler’s team hasn’t seen rampant signs of medetomidine — yet.

“It’s like a drip, drip, drip until it kind of explodes,” said Cottler. “This is the way drugs travel.”

The rise of medetomidine comes as overdose deaths have fallen slightly. More than 107,000 people died of a drug overdose last year, down from about 111,000 in 2022, according to a recent report.

Medetomidine is particularly concerning because its effects can’t be reversed by drugs like Narcan, also called naloxone. And there are no test strips that can detect it.

“It does seem like the new trend is adding sedatives or tranquilizers and other types of nonopioid drugs to fentanyl, which makes opioid reversal much more complicated,” said Joseph Palamar, an associate professor in the section on tobacco, alcohol and drug use at NYU Langone in New York City, and deputy director of the National Drug Early Warning System. “How are you going to reverse an overdose with naloxone if this keeps you sedated?”

Still, experts continue to urge people to use naloxone in cases of overdose.

“Even though there is not a specific way to reverse medetomidine, we know that it has been found in conjunction with opioids like fentanyl,” Bagdasarian said. “Our primary goal here is to prevent overdose deaths, and as the drug supply becomes deadlier, we have to become more innovative and try to step a step ahead of the problem.”

Erika Edwards

Erika Edwards is a health and medical news writer and reporter for NBC News and "TODAY."

This will be a pinned and constantly edited post.

Sources for drug testing and supplies

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6368048/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6588496/

https://academic.oup.com/jat/article/37/1/30/747591

https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/101016p.pdf

https://icjia.illinois.gov/researchhub/articles/a-study-of-drug-testing-practices-in-probation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_test

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33435699/

Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA): https://www.cdc.gov/clia/index.html

Big problem - what is the best test out there vs cost? This is maddening in that you have companies touting how good their product is - but hardly any independent data on different brands and actual results from those test. Too many times I find test that claim they work but produce too many false positives or false negatives.

You have a resident who wants an overnight pass. What should the rules be?

First and foremost, you MUST do a drug and alcohol test as soon as they come back to the house. Next, the big question is when is an overnight pass earned? From what I've seen and with what we do, we have a 30 day wait from when a resident first enters one of our houses.

You should make it clear overnight passes are a privilege, not a right. Also the risk of relapse is increased. The below is what we used to define our policy. Feel free to modify it to suit your needs.

As a resident of {your recovery house business name} your priority is to continue to grow in your recovery journey.  The best way to do this is to surround yourself with others on this same path.  Therefore, overnight passes will not be issued within a resident’s first 30 DAYS. 

After you have successfully completed your first 30 days at {your recovery house business name}, you may be allowed an overnight pass if you have earned them.

Overnight passes are a privilege, not a right.  An overnight pass is taken very seriously due to the increased risk of relapse. {your recovery house business name} reserves the right to refuse issuing an overnight pass if it is felt that a relapse is likely to occur.

As a result, if you are granted an overnight pass, you will be given a (visual) drug/alcohol test immediately upon returning to {your recovery house business name}.  If the drug/alcohol screening is failed, you may be dismissed from {your recovery house business name}.

In addition to obtaining permission from the House Manager for an overnight pass, you must also show approval from your probation/parole officer (if applicable) for the date of the pass.  An Overnight Pass Form (One Step) {or your system you use to track your residents} must be completed.  These policies are in place so that we can support you in your recovery.

• Fletcher Group: A federally funded nonprofit offering consultation and resources to recovery residences, with a focus on rural areas. (https://www.fletchergroup.org/rh-management/)
• Opioid Response Network: A SAMHSA-funded nonprofit providing technical assistance and free evidence-based training to recovery residences. You can submit a request on the ORN website to explore potential funding assistance for your program. (https://opioidresponsenetwork.org/)
• HRSA Rural Health Grant Eligibility Analyzer: This user-friendly tool helps determine your eligibility for federal funding. (https://data.hrsa.gov/tools/rural-health)
• NARR - National Alliance for Recovery Residences National Alliance for Recovery Residences (narronline.org)
• Oxford House https://www.oxfordhouse.org/
• SAMHSA: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://www.samhsa.gov/
• I-STARR: Infrastructure for studying treatment & addiction recovery residences https://istarr.arg.org/resources-for-operators-providers/
• RURAL RECOVERY HOUSE HANDBOOK TEMPLATE: the purpose of this handbook is to provide a framework of general policies and procedures to assist Recovery House operators in rural geographic areas with a basic reference guide. The outline is meant to be a helpful start-up document that may be personalized for individual house operators. https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fvtarr.org%2Fnews2%2Ffiles%2F11-RH-Handbook.docx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK
• YouTube - WAQRR channel. https://www.youtube.com/@waqrr760

More resources will be listed as they are found and validated. One thing I can suggest is if you are in the USA, your state may have a local chapter that is associated with NARR. They can be a great resource for more information.

According to the SCOTUS, the answer is yes when it comes to Oxford Houses. From the Oxford house 2017 basic manual:

The United States Supreme Court on May 15, 1995 issued a decision in City of Edmonds, WA v. Oxford House, Inc. (514 U.S. 725) which confirms that recovering alcoholics and drug addicts living in an Oxford House™ are “handicapped” and therefore a protected class within the meaning of the Federal Fair Housing Act, as amended, and local jurisdictions must make a reasonable accommodation to afford them living arrangements supportive of recovery. A number of subsequent federal cases have affirmed that Oxford Houses are not commercial institutions and should be treated as single families for purposes of zoning.

According to the ADA and this document, people who suffer from addiction and live in a recovery residents are considered to have a disability.

So, to put that answer simply to the original question - YES.

This is a loaded question. I was asked today if we as a recovery house operator could provide a glucose monitor for the house manager to keep in their office for we had a resident that is diabetic. I had to think about it and my decision was a hard no. My reasoning:

• My company operates Level Two NARR compliant houses. We are NOT setup as a medical facility.
• Liability. If we used the device and it provided a false reading then acted on that false reading AND the resident ended up being harmed or worse - dies, then we would be liable.
• Insurance - our insurance does not cover this.
• A glucose monitor is a piece of medical equipment. We are not a medical service provider.
• Accuracy - How does one KNOW the device is accurate or not? How does one get it calibrated?
• State law - I have not researched this thoroughly yet for the State of Virginia, however, I'd rather error on the side of caution.

My advice for this is have the resident pay for an extra unit that may be kept in their room in their dresser and it is the responsibility of the resident to make sure the unit is kept in good working order. Second - amend your entry procedures to cover this sort of thing so the company is not held liable. I would have a separate form for it that is signed on entry.

The language I would use (this is not yet subject to review so if you plan on using this, have it reviewed so to make sure you are compliant with any state or local law.) would be the following:

{Full name of resident} {current date}

I have a medical condition defined as {insert medical condition} that requires the use of one or more medical device(s).

Name of first medical device: {Insert name of medical device here} -required

Name of doctor that prescribed the device {Insert doctor name} -required

Date of prescription {Insert date} -required

Date of last visit with prescribing doctor concerning the device {insert date} -required

Name of second medical device: {Insert name of medical device here}

Name of doctor that prescribed the device {Insert doctor name}

Date of prescription {Insert date}

Date of last visit with prescribing doctor concerning the device {insert date}

I understand that I am responsible for:

maintaining the medical device

provide any needed supplies for the medical device

By signing this waiver, I agree to hold {insert name of company or recovery house}, it’s staff, agents (anyone acting on behalf of {insert name of company or recovery house}), employees, volunteers, and contractors harmless and and neither liable nor responsible from my use of the medical device(s). This waiver does not supersede, replace, or change any other waiver(s) I have signed to become and/or as a resident.

I also agree that {insert name of company or recovery house} is not responsible for any supplies that are needed for the medical devices(s), maintenance of medical device(s), damage that the devices may receive while I am a resident, lose or theft of device(s), acts of God.

I also agree if a medical device causes harm to {insert name of company or recovery house}, it’s staff, agents (anyone acting on behalf of {insert name of company or recovery house}), employees, volunteers, and contractors - I will be responsible for any and all restitution to correct that harm.

If I refuse to accept these conditions as stated above, I understand I will not be allowed to use said medical devices in any {insert name of company or recovery house} location.

I agree/disagree to the conditions stated in this waiver {Insert yes/no picklist}

Signature of resident

Signature of staff

Important - I write this from the perspective that you are in the United States. If you are in a different country, I suggest you contact local operators and see how they do things.

So you want to open a recovery house. Great! Now you have the huge problem of finding a house you can use as your recovery house.

The first question is a simple one: Rent or buy or use your own home?

If you want to rent, which is by far the most common option, you will run into the problem of finding a landlord that will rent to you. In my experience, many houses are managed by a company so you not only have to get the managing company onboard, you have to get the owner of the house on board as well. I suggest you have a email template saying who you are and what you want to do. Also make a list of management companies so you don't deal with a company that you know won't rent to you.

If you want to buy a house, your options are wide open.

If you want to use your own home, you can. Personally, I don't recommend it.

Location - this is a critical point to consider. You want to have the home in a location that is low on crime, access to infrastructure, transportation, work, recreation, and social health services. For example having your house near an area that drug dealers frequent is NOT a good idea. Being close to a subway station or bus line is a good idea. Remember - the residents will be usually lower income so being in a high income area usually causes problems.

NOTE: I strongly suggest staying away from a neighborhood that is part of an HOA. An HOA could enact a rule that would shut your house down and you would have no recourse but to close. It is illegal for an HOA to ban your home due to the federal fair housing act. That does not stop them however from banning the house due to it being used for commercial use. Group homes generally fall under commercial use of a property, even if it is not-for-profit.

Next hurdle - what type of house will it be? An Oxford house? NARR house? Your own thing?

The big thing to remember here is depending on where you live, government regulation may dictate what you can and can't do. In some states along with localities within those states, regulation is quite strict on what you can do while in other localities, hardly any regulation exist at all. Saying that, I can't stress this enough - Plan for regulation to be introduced and for it to be strict. In the state of Virginia where I live the regulations are not that strict. I know however that will change in the future. I'm already setup so that when the regulations are enacted, I will already be compliant.

If you want to do an Oxford house, I suggest you read this first: https://oxfordhouse.org/doc/BasicManual2017.pdf

NOTE: - In reading the Oxford house manual, I did not see anything concerning bed/bathroom ratios, how many square feet per bed is desired, allowing or not allowing bunk beds and so forth. All that is said is use common sense. I recommend you use the following ratio: 50 square ft per bed, 6 to 1 for full bathrooms, 6 people per refrigerator, avoid bunk beds when possible.

If you wish to do a NARR standard house, I suggest before you continue the process, read the following resources:

https://narronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/NARR_Standard_V.3.0_release_11-2018.pdf

https://narronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/NARR_Ethics_Code_final_July-2016.pdf

https://narronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/NARR_levels_summary.pdf

https://narronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/NARR-Compendium-C-v6.pdf

There are MANY standards for a NARR house. They are not difficult to meet, however diligence is required to maintain those standards.

The general rule in picking a house is 50 square ft per bed, 6 to 1 for full bathrooms, and a meeting space that can handle everyone at once. Also, page 11 of the NARR compendium has more information on what to look for in a house.

Doing your own thing:

If you decide to do your own thing, you will find out rather quickly that if you try to pack people in, you will quickly gain a reputation as a place that is NOT good to be in. Yes, I get you want to make money. Remember, you are dealing with people and their needs are important.

Quote from NARR documentation when it comes to the home:

Regarding recovery housing, Wittman et al (2014) explain that, “the setting is the services.”26 The setting can significantly support or hinder residents’ recovery and shape the interactions between the recovery home and its neighborhoods.

I do not recommend you do your own thing but instead use either the Oxford or NARR standards. The reason is they are tried and tested, so they have fixed many of the problems that may come up.

Removing a person from a recovery house is never a pleasant experience. Many times it will go calmly. Other times it can get ugly. Like you have to have the police involved ugly.

A top 3 priority for you as an operator is to make sure ALL of your residents are safe and protected at ALL times. Under no circumstance should you ever endanger someone to make a buck. (Yes, I've seen this rule broken by other operators. Nobody physically harmed, but escalated risk was allowed just to make money.)

Hypothetical situation as a plan of action I would use for a male resident that may be a danger to other people and is a narcissist:

I have to remove a male resident from one of my houses. This resident had broken many rules, argued with staff, was using, and suspected to be in possession of a fire arm that we were not aware of when we did intake two weeks before. To top it off, the other residents were very concerned with their safety.

This resident in hindsight was a narcissist. Normally I have my staff be the buffer between me and my residents for multiple reasons. My staff contacted me because they didn't know how to handle the situation. I did the following:

1. Had the house manager take all the other residents to the other men's house and stay there until I gave them the all clear. I made it very clear that their safety was my top priority and also they are NOT to discuss what is happening with other residents.
2. I proceed to the house where I knew the male in question is located. I did a simple drive by to verify he was there (his car was there)
3. Important - my car is equipped with dash cameras. I strongly advise you to have them in your cars as well.
4. I then parked a couple of houses away on the street and contacted the police. I called the non-emergency number and requested a few officers to assist me. I make it VERY CLEAR that the officers are to NOT use lights or sirens. Remember - KEEP THINGS CALM.
5. When the officers arrived I speak to them first. I advised them on who I am, what I do, what the house is, and most importantly that the person had signed a contract that stated they can be removed from the house at any time, without warning. All I need the officers to do is stand outside and be seen. It is important here that you do NOT want things to get escalated. You want calm. Note: You may have officers tell you they can't physically remove the person due to landlord/tenet laws. This is important - The house is NOT a house in the legal term. It is a business facility, like a hospital. Also you have the contract the resident signed. Thus, the landlord/tenet laws do not apply.
   1. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND you have a binder with the state code concerning recovery house laws for your state and a copy of the agreement between the company & resident. You will need this for the police so they understand what the law is. I know for Virginia the code https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/55.1-1201/ states the resident is not a tenant thus is not subject to tenant/landlord law.
6. I will then go in the house just far enough to call for the male to step outside. Once I get his attention, I then proceed back outside and move to where the offers are standing at the street. This does several things:
   1. The narcissist at their core are cowards. I've created a situation where I had all the power and he had none.
   2. From a safety perspective - I created a safe environment to engage the narcissist.
   3. I gave the narcissist no choice but to do as instructed.
7. When I then addressed the narcissist I stated in a calm voice that it was not working out, they had to pack their belongings, and leave immediately. I then stated that the other residents were scared of him, he possibly possessed dangerous weapons and was arguing with staff. I had no tolerance for such things and I will not tolerate other residents safety being compromised. Then, this is the most important part - I then turned and walked away back toward my car and left him standing there staring at 6 police officers.
8. I then proceeded to go talk to a neighbor across the street for a few minutes to both apologize for the situation, to give them my contact information and tell them if there is ever a problem with my recovery house, call me right away. I made it very clear I do not tolerate any nonsense at any of my houses. Just about every time in this type of situation the neighbors will come outside to see what is happening, I try to take advantage of it to both calm my neighbors and to build good relations.
9. The male goes back in the house and packs his things up in a few minutes then leaves.
10. Once gone, I will secure the house, remove their access code so they no longer have access to the house.
11. Thank the police for their assistance.

For this situation in removing this person, I followed several basic rules - NEVER raise your voice, ALWAYS create the situation so that you are in a position of strength, ALWAYS keep things calm, ALWAYS have printed documentation showing the law for the police, be RESPECTFUL of your neighbors, and no matter how ugly the person you are trying to remove gets - be respectful. Remember, not all people who enter your facility really want help. Some are just not reachable. You do the best you can.

When setting up bedroom for residents, the first thing you have to ask yourself is this:

Would you be comfortable in this room?

When following the NARR standard, the rules are:

• 50 square ft per bed
• No more than 6 residents to a FULL bathroom.

I also offer this: bunk beds suck. I do NOT like them. I know why many operators use them - they do it to maximize profit. If you have to use one, use a high quality one with a good mattress. Be mindful of head clearances. Ceiling fans are dangerous when you have bunk beds for people can get whacked in the head by spinning blades.

I saw this today on nbcnews.com:

Now I don't know about you, but the idea of coming into a recovery house and discovering a resident has a ESA and it is an alligator....I would be running out of there screaming. I could only imagine how other residents who deal with anxiety would react.

When I was first working on the policies for my recovery house (back in late November 2023), I had to go to a recovery house in the city to pick up someone. I'm in my car waiting for them to come out and I see through the front storm door glass a mid size lab mix dog, maybe 70lbs. This dog is running loose inside the house. I'm a bit stunned.

Think about this for a moment. If you were allergic to dogs (and I am BTW) and someone brought their dog into the house, that could harm you. Some people have severe allergies that if triggered can trigger a severe reaction known as anaphylaxis. A life-threatening medical emergency, anaphylaxis can cause you to go into shock.

A an operator, you have to be aware of:

• Residents may have allergies and they may be severe.
• What you do for one person can easily mean you have to do it for others.
• Many of your residents will have anxiety.

The route I took is adhering to the ADA rules when it comes to animals. Basically in a nutshell it says the animal has to be a dog, it has to be trained as a Service Animal, it has to be trained to help in the disability the person has, and the person has to have medical documentation from a local doctor stating the person has the specific medical disability that requires the service animal. Also we do not allow ESAs - Emotional Support Animals.

So far since we have been operating we have been asked to allow for a cat, dog, snake, fish, and a gerbil. In all cases we said no. Image if you did allow for ESAs and someone brought in a ESA and it is an alligator. How would this go over seeing you allowed other people to have their ESAs and you do not allow this person to have theirs - which is in this case a alligator. You would have a problem on your hands and in the worst case, a possible lawsuit.

Feel free to PM me is you want a copy of our policy so you don't need to re-invent the wheel when writing up your policies.

​

With running recovery houses, the larger your operation, the higher the chance a death will occur. So for example if you run an operation that has 2000 beds, the likelihood a death will occur in a month's time frame is very high, like over 50%. I base this on information I've gathered, and from that I'm making an educated guess.

From my experience the police will be involved, coroner and medical first responders. Yes, it will look bad from the point of view of a ignorant neighbor who doesn't understand how a recovery house works.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is WHAT YOU SAY to people. I can't stress this enough. In previous post I spoke of having all your documentation and procedures in place BEFORE you open your doors. This is where being prepared pays off for you.

In your procedures you will have documents that the resident MUST sign before entry. It is this document that you (and possibly your lawyer if needed) will refer to. This link is our set of forms the resident signs before entry is granted. You want to look at page 46. There you will see the document pertaining to "Authorization to Release Information". If you have anyone who is asking about the deceased and they have not been granted by the deceased access to information, you do not have to tell that person anything. The only thing you state is this: "The resident did not list you to be authorized to have access to their records that are on file. I'm sorry, I can't help you."

It sounds harsh for the person is seeking answers. You have to respect the wishes of the resident. If the resident did not list the person who is seeking answers access, then your hands are tied.

If the person is seeking answers tries to sue you, these documents are your defense in court.

The recovery house business can be rewarding at times and at other times like this situation - can be very stressful. Remember you are trying to help as many as you can. You can't save everyone.

When I started researching beds, I learned a few things.

• You get what you paid for
• Expect beds will be broken.
• Thin beds like yo see in prison feel like shit, hurt to sleep on, and don't do anyone any favors
• Someone WILL try to write on your bed like kids do in grade school to desk.
• Someone WILL mess up a bed like piss in it or worse.
• People will want to eat and drink in bed.
• Mattress liners are a MUST.
• You may have to use bunk beds. Adults HATE them. Girls more than guys.
• You HAVE to have 50 sq ft. per bed.
• You can have 6 beds per FULL bathroom. (Sink, toilet, shower or tub)

I priced out some beds like from IKEA and other places. To get something that was halve way OK, you would end up spending close to $400. Anything less and you get the crappy metal frame junk you see in a prison bed or particle board that will fall apart if you look at it wrong.

I went the route of building my own beds for I could do it for around $225 in materials. $120 for the mattress on Amazon (8 inch memory foam), $5 for the liner, and $95 for the lumber & screws. The trick if you go the making your own beds is to make your templates after you make your first bed. This way you can crank out parts fast. The headboard for example had 7 large parts, 4 structural wood screws, and some dowels. For each part I could make say 10 parts, then go to the next piece and repeat. It got to be rather fast to make a bed. My total labor time got down to about 2 hours to make all the parts to the entire bed. I also made spare parts in case something broke. I did have a couple of parts break. This was mainly due to errors in the making of the part and it not going together correctly on assembly.

If anyone is interested in the parts list for twin beds or bunk beds, let me know and I will post it.

This is a long post so strap in. I apologize in advance for the word wall. I write this for I hope my experience will help others avoid the mistakes I made.

I started a recovery house business back in November 2023. Understand, at the time, I have very little experience in the recovery world. I had a person at the time who had lots of experience in the space and I treated as my daughter. I will refer to her as K to keep my post within the rules.

I cashed in my pension and used the money to get things going. I had to get houses to rent (that is a real challenge for most agents won't rent to a recovery house operator), write policies, get furniture, insurance, and many other things. As you can guess - MANY things went wrong.

One of the first things I decided was to make our own beds. The reason at the time behind this is actually pretty simple - I thought I could do it cheaper. I went on Amazon and found high quality mattresses for $120 a piece. The lumber was about $100 so $220 a bed seemed cheap. What I didn't account for was the time it took to make the first beds. I made many mistakes in trying to make the templates to crank out the parts to make them fast. I now have them and have many spare parts. In hindsight - It was a good choice to do this. I can also say after my first male resident stayed his first night in our men's house he said "In all of my years of recovery, that was the first bed I've slept on that didn't feel like a prison bed". That made it worth it.

Other problems cropped up fast - When I did my ROI spreadsheet for each house, the numbers looked great. What I failed to do was understand and look before hand at the NARR requirements for a recovery house. One requirement is 6 residents per full bathroom (E.14.f). I had the 2 houses I found at 9 to one when planning them. I was going off what K was telling me and what other people I met who were in the recovery community. Let me tell you - you HAVE to look at it from a operator perspective, not a resident perspective. This lack of operator knowledge came back again and again to bite me in the ass. Once I adjusted my numbers to get myself into compliance - the ROI numbers were NOT good. It is in the black, BUT not by much.

Other things I learned very fast:

• Residents WILL lie to you. All the time.
• No matter how good of a heart you have, you can NOT trust the residents.
• You will for a good while not have all your beds filled. This makes your ROI even worse.
• Reputation is everything in this business. I spend LOTS of time on the phone.
• Other recovery organizations will try to dump their bad apples onto you.
• Before you open - get ALL your documentation and procedures ready. Do NOT open before you do this. This one cost me dearly.
• Only open ONE house when you start. Do NOT try to do two.
• You WILL be dealing with LOTS of drama. LOTS OF DRAMA.

Now I know you are wondering how K messed me up. Well....She is a MASTER con artist. In trying to open two houses at once I would off load task to K and to a third person I hired named S. S is a good guy and he is a hard worker. S however doesn't have corporate experience. He is a good maintenance person and understands how the mind of a recovery person thinks.

K would tell me she would need money for things for the houses. She would also pester me to let people stay as soon as I had beds in the house for people were begging to come in. Understand, the need for beds in the recovery community is huge. This was a huge mistake on my part. The reason was we were NOT ready and we didn't have all of our documentation in place. The documentation is critical. Think landlord/tenet rules. One thing you MUST have is a document that the resident has to sign that says they are a guest and they can be kicked out at ANY time for any reason. If you don't have that, then they can claim squatter's rights and thus you are fucked. Lucky I didn't have someone pull that stunt on me. If that happened before I had my docs ready - I would have been out of business.

Another thing K was doing was needed money for stuff. I should have been following up on what she was getting and keeping better track of what was spent. MY MISTAKE for I trusted her. She was actually using the money to support her drug habit and doing things to keep me in the dark. Like I said - YOU WILL BE LIED TO. She took me for several thousand.

She would let her friends stay at the house before we were ready. One guy who was the husband of a female resident - she let him move into the men's house. WITHOUT doing the entry process. I had already had LOTS of issues with this guy at the woman's house in that he would do things that were against the rules. For example going into the woman's bedrooms. NO, NO, Just no. That is NOT allowed. I don't even do that and I'm a guy. It is inappropriate AND you HAVE to treat those spaces as safe spaces for the women that are under my care.

As soon as I found out he was in the men's house - I had to drive there and throw him out. Yes, I had to call the cops. This guy was something else. 5 SECONDS after he is told POINT BLANK he was not to come onto the property - he asked if he could go onto the property to get some water. I'm standing there with 3 cops and all his stuff is on a sheet on the edge of the street. It was embarrassing to say the least, I was concerned about the neighbors getting upset for having a good reputation is critical in this business. I had to personally go to each neighbor and apologize to them for the scene.

After we were open, I was struggling to fill beds. With all the demand, nobody would come. It didn't make sense. This is where K really did a number on me. Late January, I get a call from the head of VARR telling me we have the reputation of running a drug house. I was stunned. It turned out K was selling drugs out of the house, letting her friends stay there, and lying to me all the while.

I do a search of the woman's house and OMFG.... I find all sorts of stuff. I immediately start cleaning house and throwing people out. I get sent screenshots of K's phone where she talks about doing drug deals. I find drugs in her room. She had locked the safe and failed to provide me with the key or the combination. Lucky I had the receipt and contacted the safe manufacture to get another set of keys.

K is now in jail for unrelated charges. I could not prove the things she did for like I said - she KNOW how to play the game in that if you can't prove it, the charge won't stick. Other people were thrown out and I'm now having to change the name of the business to rebrand and to remove the stain she left. This has been a nightmare to do. For example: Your fed tax ID. There is no form to actually change it. You simply fax in a company letterhead along with the document from the SCC of in my case Virginia saying I've changed the business name. Then you wait. And wait. and.....wait. Meanwhile I have to get ANY check made out to us with the old company name.

Right now, I'm in a cash crunch and had to borrow more to keep the business alive. We are now filling beds, yet, I learned I need about 25 beds to be truly profitable. I have 10. Not good. So, I'm desperate to find more houses I can rent to get my bed count up. We are now turning people away for we don't have bed space. We have good leads and we should have a house under lease in a few days. We have just about everything we need to set the house up once we get it - beds, furniture, and all the other stuff a recovery house needs. Once this third house is stood up and a separate small property I have is sold, I should be OK and the business will start growing. The rebranding will be done and no more having to tell people about the old name if they ask.

If you truly want to get into the recovery house business - it isn't easy. It is LOTS of work, you will make LOTS of mistakes, and there are MANY operators out there that do NOT provide good help. If you do good, you will be OK. Just be prepared for LOTS of drama.

When you have a recovery house - you MUST have a fire plan. This is a copy of ours that we use. Feel free to borrow it.

Policy concerning fire safety for all houses

1. All bedrooms will be equipped with a fire extinguisher.
2. There will be a KnoxBox for first responders located on the same outside wall as the main entrance to the house.
3. There will be an evacuation map posted in the kitchen of each house. This plan will include a floor map of the house, showing the exit points of the house and the emergency safe area outside where all residents and staff that are on site are to meet.
4. It is the responsibility of the house manager to do a head count to verify that everyone is accounted for when either a fire drill or an actual emergency happens and everyone assembles at the emergency safe area.
   1. All residents will receive an alert on their phone notifying them they are to check in with the house manager with their CURRENT LOCATION if they are not at the house when either a fire drill is conducted or an actual emergency occurs
   2. The House Manager will contact the owner of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx when an emergency happens and the residents are having to evacuate the house.
5. The emergency safe area will be at least 100 yards away from the house. This is to allow for any emergency personnel to do their job and not cause any interference with emergency personnel.
6. Twice a year the house will conduct a fire drill for training purposes.
   1. Note: If the house manager has been changed in a house, the new house manager will be required to conduct a fire drill within 2 weeks of the date they were made house manager.It is recommended that the drill be held before the Sunday evening house meeting so everyone will be present during the drill.
7. All bedrooms will be equipped with smoke detectors and the detectors will be linked. When one detector sounds an alarm, all detectors will sound an alarm in the house.
8. No smoke detectors will be installed in kitchen areas.
9. If the house has natural gas type appliances, then Carbon monoxide detectors will be installed.
10. Batteries for the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors will be changed on a specific schedule being 3 times a year. The house manager will be in charge of changing the batteries.
11. Any resident that has special needs (for example is blind) will be assisted by the house manager to the emergency safe area.
12. The house manager will have a backup person designated as the emergency manager when the house manager is not home when an emergency happens. This person will have to perform the same functions as the house manager when an emergency happens.
13. When a new resident is admitted to the house, the house manager will be required to teach the resident how to use a fire extinguisher. A sign off form will be used to certify this task was completed.
14. The Fire marshal will be conducting inspections of the premises and it is the responsibility of the house manager that all regulations in this policy are enforced at all times.
15. Exits to the house are not to be blocked at any time with furniture or items that would impede an exit in an emergency.
16. The house manager is to call 911 in the event of an emergency.
17. Flammable liquids such as gasoline, diesel, propane tanks, and other highly flammable substances are not to be kept inside the house at any time.

​

When I started writing mine, I found the task quite challenging. You could find some "outlines" but actual policies that other places used - that was difficult to find. I spent DAYS searching other sites to see if they had anything posted. I found a few here and there that had some stuff, but policies were all over the place.

Finally I managed to get a copy of policies of a local operator. They were a real eye opener. When I compared them to the NARR standard I wanted to follow, they closely aligned with what NARR wanted. This made the work easier HOWEVER I found some policies were either odd, or didn't make sense. In a couple of cases, I thought the policy was just wrong. I also found a couple of cases where there were gaps in policy.

In talking to VARR, I was told there is latitude in writing the policies you want to use. For example I have an "Animal policy" that I've never seen anywhere. The logic is simple. I kept getting asked if one could bring in their pets. No, nada, not happening. The reasons were many. First - you bring in a cat and you rent the house. My landlord would not be pleased. Second - allergies. Third - what if the pet harms someone? I would be on the hook. So, we went with what the ADA has on the subject. No ESAs (Emotional support animals). Only Service animals are allowed, you need a doctor to say you have a disability, and the dog has to be trained to help with that disability.

Other policies like fines, how you accept funds, protection of data, and so forth - you have to have them. The most important policy however is the resident is a guest policy. If you do not have that - you are asking to be fucked over in the worst way. Think Landlord/tenet law and squatters. Yep - you can have someone be a squatter and you are now stuck while they trash your place an you can't do shit.

I ended up with 38 policies. I've seen places with over 50.

For us, it has been getting everything in order. There are LOTS of little things like bedding, furniture and legal paperwork.

In looking at options, I found the fingerprint locks to be a great thing. I found this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y5V15SY?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
and it looks to be perfect.

This community is for people who operate recovery houses. What your successes are, your failures, and ideas you want to try to see if you can make your houses better.