Rehab home lodges complaint against city

The Newport Beach-based sober living house Newport Coast Recovery filed a federal housing complaint against the city of Newport Beach on Friday, claiming that a city ordinance discriminates against people with disabilities.

In January, Newport Coast Recovery became the first drug and alcohol recovery home denied a use permit in Newport Beach under a controversial ordinance to regulate the homes the city adopted last year.

The home was denied a permit on the grounds that it was too close to two businesses that sell alcoholic beverages and there were too many other rehabilitation homes in the neighborhood.

The rehabilitation home, a 29-bed, men’s treatment home that runs out of a seven-unit apartment building at 1216 W. Balboa Blvd., has since appealed the ruling.

A complaint filed Friday with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development claims the city’s ordinance on rehabilitation homes violates the Federal Fair Housing Act. Under federal law, recovering addicts are classified as disabled.

“The criteria applied by the hearing officer in denying the application is a textbook example of stereotyping persons with disabilities,” Stephen Polin said in a written statement, a Washington D.C.-based attorney who is representing Newport Coast Recovery. “This is a classic example of a city government allowing illegal prejudices of its constituency to dictate its decision-making process.”

This is the second federal fair housing complaint filed against the city over its rules on rehabilitation homes.

Pacific Shores Recovery filed a federal complaint in February 2008, also claiming the city systematically discriminates against recovering drug addicts and alcoholics.

Efforts to reach Jim Markman, the city’s independent attorney hired to deal with drug and alcohol recovery homes in Newport Beach, were unsuccessful on Friday.

— Brianna Bailey