Willow Glen, California Since 1992
Opinion
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Recovering addicts have rights that must be protected By Sheila Sanchez I grew up with a couple of alcoholics. They were nice alcoholics. I loved them and wanted everyone around to love them, too. Most important, I wanted them to get better and prayed for someone to reach out to them. I also grew up around many families who doubled up, or as is typical in many Latin countries, knew many families who allowed their children and their families to live with them in the same house. One of them was "Mama Piedad." I visited her three years ago when I traveled to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Mama Piedad is about 80 years old. She has eight children. Most of them live with her in a tiny, two-story house in the suburbs of Guayaquil. Nobody seems to mind the living arrangement. While I'm sure they occasionally struggle with being so close together, they seem to actually enjoy being together and benefit from each other's company. In South American countries, there are no restrictions as to how many people can live in a home. It's an unquestionable right. Families have as many children as they want and accommodate them the best way they can, even if to an outsider the home looks overcrowded. A usual Spanish saying goes, "Entran 10 salen 20," which, translated, means "10 enter, but 20 come out of the house." All of this makes me think about the recent outcry by some Willow Glen residents over the proposed increase in tenant occupancy at residential area recovery homes. One is on Kilo Avenue and the other one is south of Willow Glen, on Meridian Avenue. The homes on Kilo and Meridian avenues have received permission to increase their occupancies. One will have up to 10 people living in it - six women, including the supervisor, and up to four children. The women at the homes are recovering drug and alcohol addicts. The neighbors are worried about the home's management and alleged noise, behavior, transience and instability problems. And it seems to me that opponents are worrying about problems that seem to plague American families - nothing out of the ordinary. After speaking to residents who have lived near such residences, I've come to the conclusion that such homes give no more problems to neighborhoods than homes with troubled families, so common these days with the breakdown of the family. After driving past several of the homes in San Jose, I was amazed at how clean the properties were. Some of the people living by them said they're quiet and that the women are harmless. Someone even said that tenants try their hardest to be good neighbors and work hard to make their recovery a success so that they can remain with their children. Others say the homes' management, such as Rainbow Recovery, does a good job at keeping the houses in order and at helping the women recover quickly, get jobs and move on with their lives. It seems cruel, discriminatory and illegal to alienate recovering addicts from our neighborhoods because of unfounded fears and biases. Attorneys representing recovery homes have a good case against any municipality denying "reasonable accommodation" for their clients. If municipalities can't restrict how many people dwell in regular homes, it doesn't seem legal that they can limit how many people recovering from substance abuse can live in a recovery home. Under federal law, such people are considered to have a disability, and cities must treat them as such, guaranteeing them the same housing rights as those of the rest of the population. While those opposing the expansion of such homes claim they're not against substance abuse rehabilitation, their concerns go against the spirit of Proposition 36, passed by California voters in November of 2000, which allows those addicted to drug and alcohol to receive treatment rather than go to jail. Public officials give good lip service to drug treatment until it's happening in their neighborhood. Rainbow Recovery has no choice but to ask municipalities like San Jose for permission to increase the occupancy of the homes. San Jose did the right thing by passing an ordinance in 1998 that created guidelines for the approval of such homes in residential areas. Now, it must continue to be the leader in the state by revising the law and ensuring recovery home tenants' rights continue to be protected, while at the same time listening to nearby residents' fears and concerns. The alcoholics I grew up with are now clean and sober. They conquered their addiction problems with the help of caring individuals with courage to reach out to them. By reaching out to them, they touched my life, the lives of my two sisters and the lives of our children and their children. Watching loved ones struggle with alcohol addiction is sometimes a sure deterrent to alcohol or drug abuse in the future. Sheila Sanchez is the editor of the Willow Glen Resident. She can be reached at 408-200-1051 or by email at ssanchez@svcn.com. |
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