How to choose a sober living home in Los Angeles
Twenty-one questions, in the order that saves you the most time — and the red flags that should end a call. Ask us every one of them: our answers are already published on this site, which is the point.
Money — ask these first
If a house stumbles here, you never need the other sixteen questions.
Will you give me the full cost in writing before I commit?
Rates legitimately vary — by room, by funding source, by program — but any real house will put your exact figure in writing before you sign or pay anything. A house that won’t is running a sales process. How it works here.
What exactly does the rate include?
Utilities, wifi, laundry, testing? Get the list in writing. Surprise line items — especially per-test charges — are how a $1,500 house becomes a $2,000 house.
Deposit, fees, and the refund terms?
LA move-in typically totals $2,000–$4,000, most of it deposit. Ask what happens to the money if it doesn’t work out in week two. (Some houses — ours included — require no security deposit at all, which simplifies this question considerably.)
Why is the rent below market — who’s paying?
The one to ask in reverse. “Free rent” in this industry is a known patient-brokering pattern: housing traded for enrolling in a clinic that bills your insurance. If the rent doesn’t add up, the money comes from somewhere.
Am I required to attend a specific clinic or program?
The correct answer is no. Housing conditioned on a particular outpatient provider is the signature of the arrangement above — and every experienced clinician in LA knows it.
Safety & legitimacy
Are you CCAPP-certified, and at what NARR level?
CCAPP is California’s NARR affiliate and the only recovery-residence certification the state recognises. It means written policies, a code of ethics and an on-site inspection. Almost no West Valley house has it — the answer tells you who does the work.
Can I read the house rules before paying anything?
A house with real rules has them written down and will show you. Ours are on this site. “We’ll go over the rules at move-in” means the rules are improvised.
Who is the house manager — and do they live in?
A name, not a shrug. Ask about certifications (RADT, CADC) and who covers overnight. The house manager is the product; everything else is furniture.
Is Naloxone on site, and is staff trained on it?
In the fentanyl era this is a pass/fail question. Hesitation is a fail.
How many guests, and how many per room?
Ask what bed you’re actually getting. Bunks stacked three-high in a converted garage and a full-size bed with your own dresser are both called “sober living.”
Can I tour before committing — including the actual room?
Any confident house says yes. Better ones let you walk it virtually first. A house that won’t show you the specific room has a reason.
Structure & daily life
What’s the testing protocol — frequency, panel, method?
Random beats scheduled; the panel should include fentanyl; refusal should count as positive; instant results should get lab confirmation before consequences. A house that can rattle this off runs a real program. Ours is published.
What are the curfew and the phase system?
Specific times, in writing, enforced the same for everyone.
What’s required weekly — meetings, work, chores?
And is any particular fellowship mandated, or does any real program count? Both answers exist; know which you’re signing up for.
Phones, cars, visitors — what are the actual policies?
Adult policies suggest an adult culture. Confiscating phones from grown adults is a different philosophy — make sure it’s the one you want.
How long do guests typically stay?
Ninety days is a floor; the research keeps improving out past a year. A house that can’t answer, or that churns guests monthly, is telling you about its culture.
Medication & the hard days
What is your written MAT policy?
Suboxone, Vivitrol, methadone — accepted or not, and how is it stored and documented? Silence or a “we’ll see” loses you a day you may not have. Ours is a whole page.
What about psychiatric medication?
Antidepressants and mood stabilisers should be accepted without drama. Ask specifically about controlled prescriptions if relevant — stimulants, benzodiazepines — and get the answer before move-in, not after.
What exactly happens after a positive test?
The single most important question on this page. Listen for a procedure: safety first, same-day conversation, family and referrer notified, a defined plan. “They’re out” means someone you love could be on a sidewalk at 11pm.
Where does someone go if discharged?
The answer must include a destination and a ride. A house that discharges to the street should not get your deposit or anyone’s referrals. Our protocol.
Who do you notify, and how fast?
With a release on file, family and the referring provider should hear immediately — from the house, not from the guest, and not a week later.
End the call
Red flags that outrank every good answer.
“Free rent” or scholarship-with-a-catch
Paired with a required clinic, this is patient brokering — federal enforcement in Southern California has been active on exactly this for years.
A success-rate percentage
“95% success” is a number nobody in this industry can honestly produce. Anyone quoting one is making it up, and it tells you how they’ll handle other facts.
Pressure to pay today
Real houses hold beds for real timelines. Manufactured urgency around a deposit is a sales floor, not a recovery residence.
A “license” they can’t produce
California doesn’t license sober livings — it licenses treatment facilities. A house claiming a state license either doesn’t understand its own regulatory status or hopes you don’t.
Nothing in writing
No written rules, no policy documents, no cost breakdown they’ll commit to paper before you pay. Opacity is the business model — you’re meant to decide inside the emotion of the moment.
Ask us all twenty-one.
Most of our answers are already published on this site — rates, rules, testing, medication, relapse protocol. The rest we’ll answer on one call.