I have received two reponses from Suja Lowenthal’s office today. One directly and one through a neighbor that forwarded the link to my open letter post to a staff member. One response points out that these facilities are either regulated by the state, or are not regulated and viewed like homes of large families, groups of friends or college students. The response also points out that research has to be done to determine which category the establishment next door falls under. Let me point out some of the information that I found:

1. The facility next door is listed on a State of California facility directory: LA County Treatment Provider Listing (PDF) look at Provider ID 100077.
2. The facility, all 3 units, is listed in another directory: Licensing and Certification Branch Directory (PDF) see the last entry on page 61 and the first two entries on page 62.

This indicates that the facility is somehow regulated by the State. Let me make a couple of points to ponder:

1. If this is a regulated facility, I would think it would be in the State’s and the City’s best interest to ensure that appropriate staffing levels are maintained. What type of staff is mandated by the State for a facility of this type.
2. Does Long Beach have any gang injunction zones? If so, can they be used to limit the number of known gang members in a treatment facility or to limit location of the facilities.
3. There are laws that limit the locations of College Fraternity houses in Long Beach (at least that was what I was once told), are these laws general enough to allow them to be used to regulate placement and capacity of these facilities?
4. Are they any laws on the books that can be applied to residences that limit the number of residents per bedroom or per square foot? If so, does 6 residents in a 1000 sq ft dwelling break the rules?

I am going to send the link to this story to the staff member that contacted me directly. I am also going to request his permission to post his response in its entirety. I think it is important to get as much information out in the open as possible.

-Josh