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Dorian Clement, a sober house landlord: Photo by Harriet JonesComing out of rehab for a drug or alcohol problem is often a daunting challenge for recovering addicts.

Facilities like a sober house, a halfway point back into normal life, can help.

But a lawsuit currently in the courts shows that many houses face pressure from both towns and insurers.

Curtiss Kolodney is a recovering alcoholic and drug user. Four years ago, he came out of treatment.

“When I was on my own, I sort of describe that as like being alone with my own thoughts. I was very reluctant to go to any 12 step meetings, and pretty soon I was back hanging around with the people I used to hang around with, and I had relapsed and was back in my active addiction.”

That changed when he moved into a sober house in New London in 2006.

“It provides you with a nice place to live, as well as people who you know are trying to accomplish the same thing you are, and that’s stay clean and sober. So you have very much of a sort of a camaraderie.”

The house he lived in is owned by husband and wife Michael Kaminski and Dorian Clement. Clement retired from her job as a probation officer, and saw the house as a way to continue her work.

“A lot of people with substance abuse issues have burned bridges with family, with jobs, with friends, so they don’t have a lot. So you know we made it affordable and reasonable for people to be able to move into that.”

Residents of a sober house: Photo by Harriet Jones
That came to an end in January last year when the house caught fire – it’s thought because a cigarette was left burning on a chair. The first floor was burnt out. Luckily all the residents escaped without injury, but then Clement and Kaminski attempted to file a claim with their insurer Merrimack.

“Probably two weeks or three weeks after the fire we got the cancellation notice, that they were canceling, because… I forget the exact wording that – we were renting to people in recovery, alcohol and drug rehabilitation.”

More than a year later, the fire claim has still not been settled. And Clement and Kaminski have filed a lawsuit claiming that the cancellation of their policy amounts to discrimination.

“They kept using the words, well ‘those people’, and this and that, It was always ‘those people’, ‘that type of people’. I’ll tell you right now, you walked into that house any day or any time, the place was immaculate. It’s a shame that somebody would think that they were doing something wrong.”

The pair are suing Merrimack under the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in a broad range of housing transactions. Their attorney is Michael Allen, of Relman and Dane in Washington DC.

“There’s no question that people who are in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction are in fact covered by the Fair Housing Act. Congress was very explicit in 1988 when it adopted the amendments, and federal courts around the country, including in Connecticut have been very clear that people in recovery are in fact people with disabilities.”

Merrimack Insurance would not comment for this story because of the ongoing litigation. Allen says if the company has its way, it would make it almost impossible to open any new sober houses in the state, Erin Kemple at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center agrees – she says it isn’t just insurance companies that sober house landlords have to battle.

“Unfortunately we have many cases right now in which we have landlords who have been told by communities – you can’t put that facility here, because this is a residential neighborhood and it’s not zoned for a treatment facility. Our arguments that this in not a treatment facility, it is a place where people live in community as a family, usually falls on deaf ears.”

“Well, essentially we try to be fair and look at everyone on an equal basis.”

But Harry Smith, who’s the city planner for New London says the town merely sees its role as one of trying to balance the interests of the whole community.

“So given the fact the state has passed a law that allows up to any six unrelated individuals to live together for this purpose, that’s something that we respect. We also try to take into account the right of property owners to live on their property undisturbed by what’s going on on abutting properties.”

Cheryle Pacapelli, Director of Operations at CCAR: Photo by Harriet JonesAt the Stepping Stone sober house in Meriden, one resident, Mike is in the process of applying for a job. This house is co-owned by Cheryle Pacapelli who is director of operations for CCAR, the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery. Local municipalities don’t keep a record of how many sober houses they may have, as landlords aren’t required to disclose this use. But CCAR does maintain a database – currently there are 125 registered with them, and the number could be higher. That’s up from around 90 two years ago, a trend Pacapelli says CCAR has been actively encouraging with a training course for landlords. She says many municipalities try to put roadblocks in the way of such facilities.

“Almost every recovery house in the state of Connecticut is full to capacity, CCAR currently takes about 100 phone calls a week for people looking for placement. Over the last year or two there’s been a lot of pressure with a lot of towns being very resistant to this.”

Dorian Clement and Michael Kaminski continue to wait for the resolution of both their claim, and their suit against Merrimack Insurance – it’s estimated it may take months for their case to reach a court hearing.