No. HB 1193
Filed under Healthcare.
Residential Living Arrangements; Provides purpose & duties of community residence; requires that community residence be licensed or certified, or operate pursuant to charter from entity recognized or sanctioned by Congress; authorizes local government to revoke or nullify siting approval of community residence; provides spacing distance requirements for siting of community residence; requires local government to authorize reasonable accommodation for certain proposed community residences if specified requirements are met; requires sponsoring entity to notify designated local government official or other applicable entity within specified timeframe that its license or certification has been revoked or denied; authorizes local government to require sponsoring entity of recovery community to immediately cease operations if continued operation poses immediate & significant threat to health & safety of residents or community; requires local government to respond in writing within specified timeframe to requests regarding whether proposed community residence or recovery residence is within certain spacing distance from certain other residences.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCommunity residences and recovery communities for people with disabilities or in recovery from substance use become an allowed zoning use almost everywhere, as long as the site sits at least 660 feet from the next one.
Local governments must approve a site anyway, as a legally required exception, if the operator shows the home will not disrupt residents at the next-closest similar home nearby.
A new category, the recovery community, lets sober-living complexes of over 100 residents locate in multifamily zones. Homes over 12 residents, or with no license category available at all, can also win approval this way.
Local governments face tight deadlines to respond to siting questions, and must hand over, free of charge, the addresses and disability types of nearby residents when asked.
AIA family or transitional community residence for people with disabilities or in recovery is treated as a residential use allowed as of right in any zoning district where ordinary residences are allowed, removing the prior case-by-case local government review process.
AIA proposed community residence must sit at least 660 feet, or 7 parcel lots, from the nearest existing community residence, recovery community, or congregate living facility to qualify as an allowed use -- a smaller buffer than the old 1,200-foot standard it replaces.
AIEven where a proposed site does not meet the 660-foot spacing standard, the local government must approve it as a reasonable accommodation once the sponsoring entity shows the two homes' residents will not interfere with each other's integration into the neighborhood.
AIWhere the state offers no license or certification for a proposed residence's population, the local government must still approve it as a reasonable accommodation if the operator merely claims its practices resemble a licensed home's, with no state review of that claim.
AIA community residence intended to house more than 12 unrelated people must still be approved as a reasonable accommodation once the operator shows the larger size is needed for financial or therapeutic viability and the home still functions like a family.
AIA newly created land use, the recovery community, lets multi-building sober-living complexes locate in any zone that allows multifamily housing, on a sliding distance scale that reaches only 1,500 feet even for complexes housing more than 100 people.
AIOn request and at no charge, a local government must give a sponsoring entity the addresses and general nature of the disabilities of residents in every community residence and recovery community within a half mile of a proposed site.
AIOnce a sponsoring entity's license, certification, or charter is revoked or denied, its zoning approval becomes void automatically and it may not keep operating in Florida, though enforcement pauses while any appeal of the revocation is pending.