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Recovery in the News
City Facing Lawsuit for Fining Group Recovery Home
Andrew Pereira
KHON 2
October 17, 2007
A non-profit group that organizes group recovery homes for former drug addicts and alcoholics has filed a federal lawsuit against the City and County of Honolulu, accusing officials of discrimination because of fines levied against three of the homes.
Oxford House filed the lawsuit in Honolulu on October 9th in U.S. District Court. The organization based out of Silver Spring, Maryland charters 27 group recovery homes on Oahu where former drug abusers and alcoholics live in groups of 8 to 15 while supporting one another against the possibility of relapse.\
According to Oxford House attorney Scott Moore the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting began fining three of the homes in late May because they did not have a Conditional Use Permit, which state law requires for any group living facility with more than five unrelated residents.
“We believe the city is aware of other Oxford Houses,” said Moore, during a telephone interview with Khon2 from his office in Omaha, Nebraska. “Only because neighbors have complained, because they don't want such homes in their neighborhood, is why the city has decided to fine Oxford House.
The main thrust of the lawsuit accuses the city of discriminating against Oxford House on the basis of disability.
"The entire issue from Oxford House's Perspective is a matter of federal law,” said Moore. “The federal Fair Housing Act and other federal laws protect people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction as persons with disabilities.”
The lawsuit also accuses the city of violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and failing to grant Oxford House reasonable accommodation or modification.
Tevan Tadaki who lives next door to a six bedroom Oxford House on Malanui Avenue in Kailua says “there are some nice people that come out” of the home, but neighbors still feel uncomfortable about living so close to former drug addicts and recovering alcoholics.
"Every week there's somebody different, we don't know where these people come from and we got kids in the neighborhood; so to me it's kind of dangerous.”
Gary Johnson, a recovering cocaine addict who also struggled with alcohol for two decades, is one of the men living in the Oxford House on Tadaki’s street. He says the home is run democratically under the principles set forth by the non-profit group, but relapse is never tolerated. “One of the things that we stress here is that if you use, you have to leave.”
Johnson admits “relapse can be a part of the recovery process” and three or four members of the Malanui Avenue home have been evicted in the past two years because of drug or alcohol use. But he says the home serves a critical purpose and the men living there are no longer doing the things that have become synonymous with drug addicts in Hawaii.
“You know the car stealing, the burglary and all that stuff,” says Johnson. “When we have places where people who are in recovery can maintain and support that recovery, these are more people who are not out doing things that are counter to the goals of society.”
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