No. SB 1238
Filed under Healthcare.
Residential Living Arrangements; Providing that a community residence is a residential use of property; providing that a family community residence or transitional community residence constitutes a residential use allowed in specified zoning districts if certain requirements are met; providing that a proposed community residence may receive a reasonable accommodation if the sponsoring entity demonstrates that specified requirements are met; requiring that a recovery community be licensed or certified by a licensing or certifying entity, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCommunity residences, homes for people with disabilities or in recovery, become a residential land use in every zoning district, not a special or institutional use local governments can restrict on that basis.
A new category called a recovery community lets sober-living operators cluster many multi-unit dwellings under one sponsor, sized only by a sliding distance rule that reaches 1,500 feet for developments over 100 residents.
Required spacing between homes drops to 660 feet, well below the old standards, which ran as high as 1,200 feet, and local governments must grant an accommodation letting short-term group homes into single-family neighborhoods that otherwise bar them.
Group homes operating before July 2026 keep their protected status only if licensed or certified by July 2027. Local governments must also hand over the general nature of nearby residents' disabilities on request, at no charge.
AIA community residence, which houses people with disabilities or people in recovery, must be treated as an ordinary residential use in every zoning district, so a local government cannot classify or restrict it as an institutional, commercial, or special use.
AIThe bill creates recovery community as a brand-new residential land use covering clusters of duplexes, triplexes, and other multi-unit dwellings run by one sponsor for people recovering from substance use, allowed by right wherever multifamily housing is permitted, with no cap on total residents.
AICommunity residences must be spaced at least 660 feet or 7 parcel lots from the next one, replacing prior rules that required up to 1,200 feet between larger homes and treated closer clustering as grounds to deny a site.
AIIf a sponsoring entity shows its short-term group home is compatible with the neighborhood, the local government has no choice but to approve it for a single-family zoned area that would otherwise allow only single-family detached houses.
AIA community residence already operating before July 1, 2026 keeps its legal nonconforming status and authority to continue only if it becomes licensed or certified, or wins a reasonable accommodation, by July 1, 2027.
AIThe definition of licensing or certifying entity, the bodies whose approval lets a residence qualify for these zoning protections, now includes the Florida Association of Recovery Residences by name, alongside the state agencies that already licensed community homes.
AIWhen a local government tells a sponsoring entity that a proposed site is too close to an existing one, it must give the specific distance calculation it relied on, within 10 business days of the request.
AIFacilities such as substance-abuse treatment centers, incarceration-alternative housing, and assisted living facilities that do not operate as a family are defined as congregate living facilities and are explicitly denied the as-of-right zoning status this bill gives smaller community residences.