Rehab Talk: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Following the recent discovery of shady so ­called three-quarter houses in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio formed a task force to investigate them further. According to numerous reports, and following an expose in The New York Times, landlords of these establishments are receiving kickbacks on Medicaid fees for drug treatments, exploiting the drug addicts and homeless people living under their roof.

Rehab Talk

What are three­-quarter houses?

Three-­quarter houses are popping up all around the country, with a heavy population in the New York metropolitan area. Sober living facilities, commonly known as halfway houses, are  designed to help and support recovering drug addicts to stay clean and sober. During their stay, their goal is to integrate themselves back into society by taking on a job, going to meetings and passing drug tests. How a three-­quarter house differs mainly, is the length of the sobriety, the stay at the home, the level of commitment and added allowances. Generally, once an addict finishes an inpatient treatment, they’ll move to a halfway house for some time and then are given the option to move into a three-­quarter way house.

Shady situations

Most cases of these New York three-­quarter homes are considered illegal because they violate building codes due to overcrowding. There’s also absolutely zero government regulation and no visits from any kind of officials to make sure building codes are up to standard. In The Times story that focused on landlord Yury Baumblit, Baumblit was accused by tenants and past employees of treating them poorly and exploiting them, all of the purpose of milking money from the government and receiving kickbacks from government organizations. The report says that Baumblit forced his residents to go to treatment facilities (that would give him these kickbacks) and in exchange, he’d let the tenants live in his home. Once their treatment was successfully completed, Baumblit threatened to kick them out onto the streets. These addicts only choice to avoid homelessness and shelter life ­ and to stay in their space ­ was to relapse and go back to rehab, providing Baumblit with his ongoing kickbacks.

This is not the first time shady drug rehab programs are being investigated. Back in 2013, “Rehab Racket,” a one­ year investigation created by CNN and The Center for Investigative Reporting uncovered widespread fraud in taxpayer ­funded drug rehab programs in California.

Not all such establishments are bad

It’s important to know that not all aftercare programs that provide sober living facilities are bad. In fact, most aren’t. There are great sober living communities, like The Watershed, that follow the laws and offer regulated and approved services. It’s unfortunate that the bad establishments offer a poor reputation to the good ones. To find out more about sober living at The Watershed, call 24/7:1­800­861­1768.