NARR updates for sober living homes in Massachusetts, Indiana, and Missouri

Massachusetts sober living homes facing pointed NIMBY pushback in places like New Bedford, despite MASH certification

Massachusetts sober living homes have had the option to gain state certification since 2016. It remains optional, but certification is the only path to gaining access to referrals from addiction treatment providers in the state. This includes state entities like drug court, the MA Department of Corrections, parole officers, probation officers, the MA Department of Children and Families, and Section 35 referrals. Sober living home referrals from behavioral health providers such as detox, facilities, hospitals, psychiatric units, and the VA are also constrained by the certification requirement in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Alliance for Sober Housing or MASH is the NARR affiliate in Massachusetts responsible for overseeing the state’s certification program. Unlike other NARR affiliates, MASH originated with the state government and later became a non-profit organization.

Massachusetts sober living homes are facing a high degree of NIMBY pushback in the community. In New Bedford, for example, at least 18 sober living homes have been under what appears to possibly be a coordinated city-led harassment campaign. The homes have all been put on notice that they are considered “rooming houses” by the city, and must register with the city as such. They’ve also been required by the city’s fire department to install sprinkler systems on account of their “rooming house” status, often to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.

Read more about sober living home strategy and management in our blog post, Everything You Need to Open Your Sober Living Home in Massachusetts.

There’s still two paths to certification for sober living homes in Indiana: DMHA and IARR

Indiana’s sober living homes have the option of gaining certification through Indiana Alliance of Recovery Residences (IARR). There is also a state certification program administered by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction. Both certifications in Indiana remain optional, with little movement to make either mandatory. However, in 2017, a law was passed that made state certification a requirement for sober living homes interested in receiving state and/or federal funding. Forgoing state certification puts Medicaid dollars and any state or federal level grant programs out of reach for non-certified homes.

Indiana has recently increased the availability of recovery housing specifically for women residents, even as nimby struggles over zoning and rezoning continue in places like Bellemeade Bayard Park neighborhood of Evansville City, where residents are pushing for city council to block a bid to rezone a local sober living home to allow for multiple non-related residents to stay.

For more on sober living business and strategy in Indiana, see our blog post, Indiana Sober Living Homes Are Easy to Open. Here’s How to Get Started.

NARR-affiliated certification remains optional for Missouri sober living homes, but municipal-level zoning challenges continue to pose unique challenges

Missouri sober living homes still enjoy a regulatory environment where certification is optional. The National Recovery Residences affiliate in Missouri is called the Missouri Coalition of Recovery Support Providers, or MCRSP, briefly. While Missouri doesn’t require certification or registration for sober living homes, it does require any sober living home that wishes to accept state or federal healthcare dollars - such as Medicaid reimbursements, among others - to retain certification status with MCRSP.

For Missouri, state certification and MCRSP certification are one in the same. This is different from other states, like Indiana, which offers a NARR-affiliated certification as well as an officially state-administered certification program.

There are no big regulatory changes on the horizon for sober living homes in Missouri, however, there are some high-profile NIMBY challenges to non-discriminatory zoning policy for sober living homes at the municipal level. For example, in Kansas City, residents pushed the City’s Board of Zoning Adjustments to reject a sober living home’s petition to have a zoning exception made for ADA protected recovery housing. They were successful, at least in the short-term.

We’ve seen in other states that these rulings are often later found to be in violation of federal ADA and FHA non-discrimination mandates for protected classes, like people in recovery from SUD. This means it’s entirely possible that a federal challenge to rulings like these in Missouri may very well be coming down the pipeline eventually. When that may or may not happen is unclear at this point.

For more on sober living home business startup, strategy, and state regulations in Missouri, see our blog post, Pros and Cons of Opening a Sober Living Home Business In Missouri.

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