Florida is, shall we say, notorious for its sober living homes. South Florida, especially places like Del Ray, has some of the highest rates of sober living per capita in the country. Teeming with attractive beaches and far away from the negative influences of home, the state of Florida continues to attract people suffering with SUD from all around the nation.
In this crowded — and controversial — market, how can your sober living home trump the competition? What’s on the horizon in Florida, where regulators are slowly circling the sober living home community in an effort to reign in the rampant abuses of some bad actors?
And, most importantly, what steps do you need to take to get your sober living home opened in Florida?
Read on for everything you need to know about how to open a sober living home in Florida.
You Aren’t Required to Get Your Sober Living Home Certified in Florida - But There’s A Catch
Like most states in the US, Florida doesn’t have special requirements for sober living homes or sober living home operators. There is no governing body that grants licenses to sober living homes or operators and regulates the industry.
Anyone can open a sober living home.
As long as your sober living home doesn’t violate zoning ordinances and other local regulations — the same ones that apply to all residential housing — then you are good to go.
That said, Florida offers a voluntary certification program that you will want to look at very closely. While it is voluntary, the consequences of NOT choosing to get certified are weighty, thanks to a law passed in 2015 by Florida Governor, Rick Scott.
If You Don’t Elect to Get Your Sober Living Home Certified In Florida, Your Referrals Will Suffer
When Rick Scott created the voluntary sober living home certification program in 2015, he also barred licensed treatment centers from referring patients to non-certified sober living homes. That means that if your sober living home isn’t certified, you’ll have to rely on referrals from outside the addiction treatment space, which can be very challenging for operators, especially operators who are new to the community.
The Governor passed this law in response to the “Florida model” of treatment, where addiction treatment centers bill insurance for outpatient services while offering a free “room and board” situation, in the form of “sober living,” to patients. For those operating under this business model, the 2015 law effectively made certification for sober living a requirement. If this business model describes your intentions with your sober living home, then you’ll almost certainly want to get your sober living home certified in Florida.
The Florida Association of Recovery Residences (FARR) is Your Go-To Resource for Getting Your Sober Living Home Certified
To begin the certification process, you’ll need to create and account at FARR and apply for certification. FARR will review your initial application and then conduct an onsite compliance review.
They’ll require “unrestricted access” to everyone at your sober living home — the staff, the management and the residents — and they’ll use the NARR standard domains to score your sober living home in terms of safety, livability and community responsibility.
Once FARR grants your sober living home a “certificate of compliance,” you'll be required to post a link to the FARR Grievance Form on your sober living home’s website, as well as a “Resident Rights and Responsibilities” poster at your sober living home, so that community members can report any non-compliant actions. In other words, you’ll need to continue to comply with FARR’s guidelines long after the onsite visit.
We’re Here to Help You Open Your Sober Living Home in Florida
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Our all-in-one software solution for sober living tracks all the details of your home — resident agreements, beds, maintenance, scheduling, turnover, utilities — and makes them available to you anytime, anywhere, from any device.
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Claim your free trial today and see why more sober living homes prefer the Sober Living App.