Editorial: No need for cluster of halfway houses

Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001 | 10:17 a.m.

The Clark County Commission did the right thing last week when it approved an ordinance to ensure that halfway houses for recovering alcoholics and addicts won't be clustered together in the future. Hazelcrest neighborhood residents had complained about three halfway houses grouped close together where they live -- and noted that two more were planned for the area. All five houses would be within a half-mile radius.

The owners of the halfway houses object to the new requirement that there be a 660-foot separation between each halfway house, but this is reasonable. Halfway houses are important to recovery, but even experts in the field note that such an intense concentration defeats their purpose, which is to integrate addicts back into the mainstream of society.

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