Last Thursday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch published a story with the headline, “State cuts off money to agency supporting halfway homes for recovering addicts.” Reporter Luca Powell wrote: Language in this year’s budget takes nearly $2 million away from the Virginia Association of Recovery Residences, or VARR. The organization certifies group homes, of which there are […]
For the last few years, Virginia has been dumping millions of dollars for recovery housing into the hands of a few sober home owners and operators — organized as the Virginia Association of Recovery Residences (VARR) — and relying on them to fairly distribute the money to recovery homes throughout the state. Since January 2023, […]
Henrico County leaders discuss recovery housing and the need for oversight with state legislators representing Central Virginia.
At Lotus Recovery RVA, sober home residents allege sexual harassment and abuse of power by the brother of Virginia Senator Lamont Bagby, a VARR ally.
For the first time since the Virginia Association of Recovery Residences (VARR) was written into the state budget four years ago, legislators are attaching strings to the money. The house budget bill, which passed in the House of Delegates last week, allocated $2.2 million per year for VARR members. But it comes with new stipulations: […]
At 8 a.m. today, I settled into Senate Room A at the Virginia General Assembly Building to see what would happen with SB19 (sponsored by state Sen. Barbara Favola) and SB190 (sponsored by state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam) – the two Senate bills designed to initiate state oversight of recovery housing. As soon as the Senate […]
A new senate bill creates a path for the state to get involved in oversight of recovery residences. You have an opportunity to weigh in.
There’s a new bill on the table for the 2024 session of the Virginia General Assembly that takes a small step toward oversight of recovery house operators. State Sen. Barbara Favola – a Democrat representing parts of Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties – has prefiled Senate Bill 19, which would “require recovery residences, in the […]
A DBHDS review confirmed “lack of robust conflict of interest policies and disclosures” and “lack of supporting documentation and monitoring of the expenditures,” among other deficiencies.
For sober home residents, a relapse can mean eviction or jail. But what happens when operators return to using?
VARR leaders funneled large sums of taxpayer money to their own for-profit companies, while smaller organizations struggled to stay afloat.
Amid growing national attention to the sober home industry’s predatory underbelly, Virginia delegated oversight to a small group of Richmonders with financial stakes in the industry.