‘It’s our safety too’: Florida residents express concern over sober home’s request for occupancy increase

By Kate Hussey

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    MARTIN COUNTY, Florida (WPTV) — There is a passionate debate in a Martin County community concerning a sober home whose operators are asking for an increase in occupancy.

On Monday, representatives of Voyage Recovery, a recovery residence located along Southeast Jupiter Road, stood before a magistrate to ask for an increase in the facility’s occupancy.

Voyage Recovery currently has four beds, but its founder wants to increase that to 10 beds.

Residents from in and around the Moorings community came out to watch as the magistrate heard testimony supporting the sober home’s arguments but weren’t able to voice their concerns about the facility.

Cathy Lawler explains to WPTV why she does not support Voyage Recovery expanding the number of people it can house at its Martin County location.

“I’m feeling pretty worried because this hearing is occurring without the neighborhood having a chance to express how they feel,” said Cathy Lawler, who lives nearby. “I have a lot of concerns and mostly my concern is for both the safety of the community and the residents.”

Lawler and other neighbors expressed concern about the occupancy change to WPTV weeks prior to the hearing. Also, in a March 5 commission meeting, dozens spoke up in opposition.

There’s a reason why they’re so worried.

“We’re less than 200 yards from where Austin Harouff bit somebody’s face off,” Thomas Anspach, who lives next door to Voyage Recovery, said. “We’re like, that’s cruel and unusual punishment.”

Investigators said Harouff hacked a couple to death with a machete before gnawing on their faces in 2016, just houses away from the recovery residence.

FBI toxicology reports showed the then 19-year-old, who was not in a sober house facility, also had no drugs in his system after the attack.

However, text messages read during his trial cataloged his almost “daily drug use” and “frequent blackouts.”

Harouff was committed to a mental health facility after pleading “not guilty” by reason of insanity.

“And it’s really still fresh on everybody’s minds,” Lawler said. “It’s a very serious thing. It rocked everybody’s world.”

Last week, Martin County deputies arrested a New York man charged with the violent car theft and robbery of a woman in a Hobe Sound Publix parking lot. Deputies said he told them he just left a local substance abuse rehab facility.

In April, a man accused of leading Martin County deputies on a near-fatal car chase told them he just left a sober home.

“Everybody’s big fear is, ‘Hey, you failed out of the program,’ the parents say, ‘Hey, I’m done with you.’ Where do you go? To my house, the neighbors?” Anspach said.

“We are 24 miles from any police station that could come and help us,” added Lawler.

WPTV took those concerns to the Florida Association of Recovery Residences (FARR), the only agency with any regulatory power over these homes.

FARR’s Micah Robinson (right) explains to WPTV reporter Kate Hussey the improved regulations for sober homes in Florida.

“South Florida had a lot of issues years ago when it came to uncertified, unregulated sober living facilities. You saw the horror stories in the news. This channel covered it wonderfully, actually,” said FARR’s Micah Robinson. “We addressed the issue, and we looked at the most effective way we could.”

Robinson said a lot has changed since then.

Sober homes now need FARR certification in order to get patient referrals to get certified. Background checks are required, and homes have to adhere to a list of standards. About 30-40% of sober homes are now certified.

Voyage Recovery’s representatives declined to comment, but it is FARR certified, and a member of Palm Beach County’s sober home task force vouched for its legitimacy.

“What’s not happening in this home is partying, people that are sex offenders or people that are going to want to leave the home and do something that’s outrageous,” Jeffrey Lynne said. “I understand concerns about that from the public. That’s not what happens here that’s not what happens in a FARR-certified home.”

Yet, concern still exists for Lawler.

“We’re not against the facility, we really aren’t,” Lawler said. “We were OK with them having their five people.”

The magistrate has 30 days to make a decision. Residents told WPTV they’ll be waiting anxiously until then.

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