Orange County has the most residential treatment facilities in the state – NBC Los Angeles

Orange County state and local leaders on Friday called for the need for better regulation of residential treatment and recovery facilities after a recent audit found serious concerns about how the facilities are inspected and monitored.

The audit found that the facilities sometimes focus on residential areas, which the state allows, but that state oversight is not always timely or thorough, according to a fact sheet from the Office of the State Auditor of California.

The Department of Health Care Services' audit, which operates the state's treatment facilities abroad, shows that there is a greater concentration of treatment facilities serving six or fewer residents in Southern California.

“Look at all of these facilities here in Orange County,” Supervisor Katrina Foley, who represents Orange County’s Fifth District, said during a news conference Friday. She pointed to any blue marker on a map that identified an inpatient drug and alcohol treatment facility. According to Orange County leaders, Orange County has more of these facilities than any other county in the state.

“If we can regulate all of these other things in California, we can regulate when people intend to take care of our most vulnerable in their weakest moment,” Foley said. The audit shows that the state does not limit the number of establishments in a given area, nor does the state require licensing for non-smoking homes that house six or fewer people.

“We don’t know how many of these homes there are in our communities,” said State Senator Janet Nguyen. “There could be hundreds.”

Rep. Diane Dixon requested consideration in May 2023.

“These overconcentrations directly contradict the intent of the legislature,” Dixon said. “By closing the original state institutions, state law has allowed for smaller institutions within residential communities.”

The audit also found that the Department of Health Services did not timely investigate complaints about treatment facilities. The report found that it took an average of 183 days for health services to process complaints, despite falling short of their 10-day timeframe.

“There are people roaming the neighborhoods, molesting children, doing drugs in parks that are meant for children,” said Andre Ramirez, who says his Fountain Valley neighborhood now has several homes and treatment facilities for alcoholics.

“My child has a name for one of the houses. They call it the “scary house” and it’s not a Halloween joke. That’s actually what the kids say,” Ramirez said from one of the centers.

State and county leaders said the results of the audit showed that patients in the facilities and the people around them were not safe.

“We saw improper medication and people leaving the facilities being shot,” Foley said of a fatal August 2021 shooting in Newport Beach in which a patient leaving a state-licensed facility broke into a home next door and there killed was shot by an inmate.