Common questions

Substance-free housing with structure and peer support. It is not treatment. There are house rules, a curfew, random drug and alcohol testing, required recovery meetings and an expectation that guests work or go to school. Guests pay rent and come and go like adults. Clinical care, if someone needs it, comes from their own provider out in the community.

Rehab — properly, residential treatment — is a licensed clinical setting where care is delivered on site by credentialed staff. A sober living home is housing. Most people do treatment first and then move into a recovery residence for the much longer stretch afterwards, which is where most of the actual rebuilding happens.

No, though the terms get used interchangeably. In one sentence: a halfway house is typically government-funded, often court-mandated and time-limited; a sober living home is privately run, voluntary, and guests stay as long as it’s working.

Ninety days is a floor, not a target. Outcomes keep improving past twelve months. We ask for a ninety-day commitment at intake and most guests choose to stay considerably longer than that.

No. AA, NA, SMART, Refuge, Dharma, a church group, a therapist — if it works, it counts. There’s an expectation of outside recovery meetings, plus a monthly community meeting the whole house attends. We have no affiliated outpatient provider anyone is required to attend, and no financial relationship with any clinical provider.

Across LA County, standard sober living runs roughly $800–$2,000 a month, structured mid-range homes about $1,500–$3,500, and luxury programs $5,000 and well beyond. Move-in elsewhere typically adds a deposit of about a month’s rent.

At Kokoro there’s no security deposit, and every placement is discussed individually — some guests pay privately, others come through nonprofit or government-funded programs. How it works.

Almost never. A recovery residence is housing rather than medical treatment, so health insurance generally doesn’t pay rent. Insurance frequently does cover the outpatient or IOP care someone attends while living here — that’s usually the more useful thing to verify, and it’s where the real money is.

Brand-new furnishings, a full-size bed — never a bunk — your own dresser and storage, all utilities, high-speed internet, laundry, computers and printers, drug and alcohol testing, and every common and outdoor area. And there’s no security deposit. Full breakdown on Admissions & Cost.

The first 30 days are a probation period: 10pm, seven nights a week, with no overnight passes. After probation, curfew is midnight on weeknights and 1am on Friday and Saturday. Overnight passes are available after probation with advance approval from the house manager — and every guest tests on return, every time.

Yes, and after a short settling-in period we expect it — employment, school, volunteering, or a documented job search. Every house has workstations with real monitors, because searching for a job on a phone is miserable.

In common areas, during set hours, with approval. No overnight visitors. At Nevada Avenue, our women’s house, no male visitors inside the house at any time.

Yes, with a valid licence and insurance on file. Confirm parking capacity at each house.

Yes. Guests are adults and treating them otherwise doesn’t work.

Case by case — which is rarer than it sounds; most LA homes ban pets outright. Raise it on the first call and we’ll give you a straight answer before move-in day. How the pet decision works. And there are horses on site at Deveron Ridge, where guests help care for them.

Yes. Kokoro is MAT-friendly. We accept guests prescribed buprenorphine, extended-release naltrexone and prescribed psychiatric medication, with prescription documentation captured within 48 hours of intake. A documented prescription is never treated as a positive test. We’re best suited to people who are stable on their medication rather than initiating or titrating — full policy here.

Randomly selected, minimum weekly, plus for-cause. Twelve-panel including fentanyl, EtG for alcohol, semi-observed collection, and refusal counts as a positive. Full protocol.

Nobody is put on the street. Naloxone is on site, there’s a same-day conversation, the referring provider and emergency contacts are notified where a release is on file, and a defined plan follows. If someone does have to leave, it happens with a destination, a ride and their belongings. Full protocol.

No, and we’re careful about this. Kokoro is a recovery residence, not a licensed treatment facility. We provide structured housing, peer support and accountability. Anyone needing detox or clinical care gets it from a licensed provider — and if that’s where someone is, call us anyway and we’ll help you find one today.