New regulations for NARR sober living homes in Maryland, Wisconsin, and Colorado

There is still no NARR affiliate in Maryland for sober living home advocacy

There is currently no NARR affiliate operating in the state of Maryland. This has been true for years, and you can check any activity for yourself on the NARR website. Maryland is one of 15 remaining states that do not have NARR-affiliated representation for sober living homes. If you’re interested in starting a NARR affiliate in Maryland, consider reaching out to NARR to get the process started.

Lacking a NARR affiliate organization in Maryland means that homes that are suffering from zoning-based discrimination, like Skyler Sale’s home in Thurmont, have no advocacy agency to organize for justice on their behalf.

Still, that doesn’t mean that there are no certification programs for sober living homes in Maryland. In 2016, the state created the Maryland Certification of Recovery Residence (MCORR) to oversee the state’s certification process. This department is overseen by the Behavioral Health Administration for the state.

In Maryland, certification is not required to operate a sober living home. However, it is required under a few specific circumstances. They include:

• Homes that want to accept state funds, including Medicaid dollars

• Homes that wish to refer to themselves as “certified recovery residences”

For more on Maryland sober living home business strategy, and the behavioral health community in Maryland, see:

Opening an Addiction Treatment Center in Maryland? Here’s How.

What Maryland Doesn’t Want You To Know About Opening a Sober Living Home

Wisconsin NARR affiliate, WASH, seeks to vet sober living homes on behalf of the state

Wisconsin’s sober living community has been in the news recently, where tales of sewage-filled basements and lax sobriety standards at the homes of a few bad actors have unfairly painted the entire sober living community in a bad light. Maintaining high standards requires consistent drug testing and proper test results documentation.

In Wisconsin, certification is not required by the state to operate a sober living facility. There are, however, two endorsement options for homes that are looking to prove their credibility to the public. A sober living home operator can opt to get certified with the Wisconsin Association of Sober Housing (WASH), the state’s NARR affiliate since 2017, or they can choose to register on the state’s sober living home registry list. So far, some 25 homes have been certified with WASH.

In February 2024, local news ran a story quoting Ginger Morgan, a board member at WASH, saying, “It’s not unusual for a state to designate a trusted partner to do the vetting, and WASH would love to do that.” It’s possible that state lawmakers will catch up with local recovery advocates to implement a state certification program with the help of the Wisconsin Association of Sober Housing in the near future.

For more on recovery housing and behavioral health business in Wisconsin, see:

Wisconsin is a Smart Place to Open Your Next Addiction Treatment Center. Here’s How.

Secrets of Opening a Sober Living Home in Wisconsin

Colorado’s NARR organization oversees mandatory certification program for sober living homes

Colorado has come a long way in the sober living home regulation world. Following a series of abuses of the system, Colorado made certification mandatory for all sober living homes, except grandfathered institutions like Oxford homes, homes certified by the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration, homes that have more than three decades of history, and sober homes that are categorized as “community-based reentry services,” rather than sober living homes.

The NARR affiliate in Colorado is called the Colorado Agency for Recovery Residences, or CARR. It is responsible for administering the state’s mandatory certification program according to NARR standards. CARR affiliated in 2017, two years before House Bill 19-1009 began the process for making sober living home certification mandatory in Colorado. In 2020, CARR assumed official responsibility for administering the mandatory certification program on behalf of the Behavioral Health Administration.

While there don’t seem to be any more regulations in the pipeline for sober living homes in Colorado, there is more ground to cover to help people in recovery in Colorado. The state has huge “sober living deserts” where people in recovery are not being served properly, leaving plenty of opportunity in the state for would-be sober living home operators. Use bed management tools to track capacity as you expand. A recent Durango Herald article describes how one intrepid operator opened the only sober living home for 150 miles, the only such recovery residence in Southwest Colorado.

For more on behavioral health business in Colorado, see:

Colorado Needs More Addiction Treatment Centers. Here’s How to Open One.

How Easy is it to Open a Sober Living Home in Colorado?

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