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WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD <br />METHOD OF STUDY <br />The Grand Jury has evaluated official documents, examined news articles, visited <br />multiple recovery/sober living websites, and assessed secondary sources. <br />The Grand Jury reviewed <br />numerous documents, including <br />the 2022 State of California's <br />Group Home Technical Advisoryz <br />and the 1990 State of California <br />Health and Safety Code.3 <br />To better understand the impact <br />of density, jurors attended <br />townhall and city council meetings <br />virtually, through recordings, and <br />visited neighborhoods in several <br />cities where there is a heavy <br />concentration of group homes. <br />The Grand Jury interviewed numerous subject matter experts, city managers, County <br />and <br />y officials, <br />gislator <br />city atorneys, group <br />estate tprofessionals It also examined cal, sta e,hand nationatl media e agal andndeal <br />reports <br />opinion pieces regarding group recovery and sober living residences. The Findings and <br />Recommendations herein are based on this work. <br />INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS <br />Orange County has -some -:of the heaviest concentrations of group homes and sober <br />living: residences in-the-nation.4 The densities are more than the local population can <br />--bear and residents -believe -the -influx of the group home residents seriously impacts their <br />neighborhoods.- <br />- g y; gro:up home and sober living industry experts cite negative <br />impacts onthe group home residents themselves. <br />- -Operators can open- a -group home where they desire, without having a license or State- <br />_. -: _ ..endomed__oertification;_ and they can open as many group homes as they desire <br />.. --regardless of local -need. Because regulation is slack, cities are challenged to track and <br />regulate the -density Without. any guidance or support from the State. Adding to these <br />concerns is -a recent State of California memorandum titled "Group Home Technical <br />Advisory" that characterizes. any attempts to regulate the homes as discriminatory.5 It <br />seems that method -of .thinking -has no positive effect on how the homes are run or on <br />how the vulnerable residents -in these homes are treated, and quite possibly has the <br />opposite effect. <br />ORANGE COUNTY GRAND JURY 2022 12023 Page 7 of 42 <br />