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<ns0:Id>20250AB__155698AMD</ns0:Id>
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<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-01-08</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_ASSEMBLY</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-03-19</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
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<ns0:MeasureType>AB</ns0:MeasureType>
<ns0:MeasureNum>1556</ns0:MeasureNum>
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<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Assembly Member Haney</ns0:AuthorText>
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<ns0:Legislator>
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<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Haney</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Title> An act to add Division 10.95 (commencing with Section 11999.45) to the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health. </ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>public health</ns0:RelatingClause>
<ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:Subject>Recovery residences: funding.</ns0:Subject>
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<ns0:DigestText>
<html:p>Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to oversee the implementation of Housing First guidelines and regulations, and, among other things, identify resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California. Existing law requires a state agency or department that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to include enumerated Housing First policies. Existing law specifies the core components of Housing First, including services that are informed by a harm-reduction philosophy that recognizes drug and alcohol use and addiction as a part of tenants’ lives and where tenants are engaged in nonjudgmental communication regarding drug and
alcohol use.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would require a recovery residence, defined as a residence that, among other things, satisfies the core components of Housing First as described above, to meet specified requirements in order to be eligible for state funding, including that residency is initiated by the resident and the resident is additionally offered at least one harm-reduction housing placement option, relapse is not cause for eviction and residents receive relapse support, the residence provides emergency preparedness and overdose prevention and response training to staff and residents and makes overdose reversal medication available and
readily accessible to staff and residents onsite, the residence has consent and confidentiality protections for its residents consistent with state and federal law, and the residence adopts and maintains a written return to use policy, as specified. The bill would make related findings and declarations.</html:p>
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<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
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<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
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Substance use can precipitate homelessness and homelessness worsens substance use.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
California has the largest homeless population in the United States at 187,084 individuals as of 2024.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Overdose deaths among homeless Americans from drugs and alcohol surged 488 percent between 2010 and 2020.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Recovery housing programs that operated in a manner consistent with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Recovery Housing Policy Brief can provide a high degree of quality and positive outcomes for program participants, fulfill a unique and specific role within a community’s homelessness services and behavioral health care systems, help provide meaningful choice in housing settings for people with substance use disorders, and should be a component of any continuum of care that needs this type of resource to prevent and end homelessness in its community.
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<html:p>
(e)
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According to guidance in October 2025 from the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, “the homelessness response system must be equipped to support people in their recovery journey.”
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<html:p>
(f)
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Recovery residences have a responsibility to protect and maintain the drug-free environments that are sought and expected by residents and their families.
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<ns0:Num>SEC. 2.</ns0:Num>
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Division 10.95 (commencing with Section 11999.45) is added to the
<ns0:DocName>Health and Safety Code</ns0:DocName>
, to read:
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<ns0:LawHeading id="id_20CECC25-ACAA-44A3-8598-644923EB975E" type="DIVISION">
<ns0:Num>10.95.</ns0:Num>
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<ns0:LawHeadingText>Recovery Residences</ns0:LawHeadingText>
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<ns0:Num>11999.45.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>For the purposes of this division, “recovery residence” means housing in a residence that serves individuals experiencing, or who are at risk of experiencing, homelessness and who opt into a drug-free environment that does all of the following:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
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Satisfies the core components of Housing First pursuant to Section 8255 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
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(b)
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Uses substance use-specific, peer support, and physical design features that support individuals and families on a path to recovery from substance use disorders.
</html:p>
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(c)
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Emphasizes abstinence.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
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Offers tenants
permanent or temporary housing.
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<ns0:LawSection id="id_6B4BC271-D978-45FD-97E1-9CD802B3AD5F">
<ns0:Num>11999.50.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>To be eligible for state funding, a recovery residence shall meet all of the following requirements:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
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The residence provides treatment and services that are participant driven and tailored to participant needs.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
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Unless participation in recovery housing is court ordered, residency is initiated by the resident and the resident or their family is offered at least one harm-reduction housing placement option and the resident or family chooses a recovery residence instead of housing offering a harm-reduction approach. The harm-reduction housing placement option and the recovery residence do not have to be available for move in at the same time.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(c)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Relapse is not cause for eviction from housing and residents receive relapse support.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(d)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The residence supports, and does not prevent or restrict, a resident’s access to, or use of, medications prescribed for behavioral or physical health conditions, including, but not limited to, medications prescribed for the treatment of mental health conditions and substance use disorders, including, but not limited to, alcohol use disorder and opioid use disorder. Medications may include, but are not limited to, buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(e)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The residence provides emergency preparedness and overdose prevention and response training to staff and residents and makes overdose reversal medication available and readily accessible to staff and residents onsite.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(f)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The residence has consent and
confidentiality protections for its residents consistent with applicable state and federal law, including, but not limited to, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and (commencing with Section 2.1) Part 2 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(g)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The residence adopts and maintains a written return to use policy that is approved by an organization currently recognized as an affiliate of the National Alliance for Recovery Residences (NARR) for consistency with NARR best practices. The return to use policy shall include all of the following:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
A clear articulation of the recovery housing’s policy on the possession and use of alcohol, cannabis, and other controlled substances.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Contact information for treatment providers, mutual aid supports, and recovery coaches that can be
contacted for additional support.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
An explanation that the residence’s standard response to a resident’s return to substance use will not be punitive in nature.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(4)
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An explanation of the steps the residence will take to address a resident’s return to use.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(5)
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An explanation of actions by the resident that may result in eviction or discharge, including, but not limited to, the possession or use of alcohol, cannabis, or any other controlled substance or repeated program violations.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(6)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(A)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
A prohibition on the eviction or discharge of a resident for a return to use related program violation unless both of the following conditions are met:
</html:p>
<html:p>
(i)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
The resident rejects a
warm handoff to long-term supportive housing.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(ii)
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If the resident rejects the warm handoff described in clause (i), the residence offers at least one warm handoff to an emergency shelter, interim supportive housing, or an appropriate level of care consistent with the American Society of Addiction Medicine criteria, and the resident rejects all offers.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(B)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
If the resident rejects the warm handoff offers described in subparagraph (A), the residence may proceed with an eviction or discharge of the resident.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(7)
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A requirement that all prospective residents agree to the residence’s return to use policy as a condition of residency.
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