Recovery Housing and Ethics: The Roadmap For Better Outcomes In The Continuum Of Care

Session Description: Sober living, halfway houses, transitional housing, and recovery residences are common terms used to describe residential settings within the continuum of care for people with substance use disorder. Historically, many of these homes have operated with limited oversight, and the level of support and operational quality has varied widely—from highly supportive environments to settings with little structure, accountability, or resident protections.

Ethical standards have also varied, creating a real challenge for state agencies, treatment programs, peer support specialists, law enforcement, and other referral partners: How do we identify which recovery housing options operate ethically and protect resident well-being? This session focuses on ethical decision-making and referral considerations for recovery housing, using the National Alliance for Recovery Residences (NARR) Code of Ethics as a nationally recognized framework.

Participants will review common ethical risk areas that can affect resident safety and referral appropriateness (such as financial practices and transparency, conflicts of interest, resident rights and grievance processes, marketing and referral practices, safety expectations, and admissions/discharge practices). Attendees will also be introduced to practical, adaptable tools and strategies, such as structured vetting questions and observable criteria, to support ethical, defensible referral decisions across systems of care.