PASADENA>> When Robert Holbrook turned 22, he realized he needed to turn his life around.

Struggling with alcohol addiction from a young age, Holbrook enrolled in the Gooden Center sober living facility in Pasadena in 1989.

Fifteen years later, he decided to give back and founded the Recovery Alliance Foundation, and ultimately opened 29 sober living houses in the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys, including 12 in Pasadena.

But after what he says was pressure from the city, he has closed all but one facility, with the remaining house to be shuttered by the end of September.

“I had a battle with the city and they left me alone for a number of years, but then there was a fire in Pasadena and they started an attack on the ones that were more visible and they applied so much pressure to me that I had to shut down,” Holbrook said.

Shortly after a suspected arson fire in an illegal boarding house on El Sereno Avenue killed two residents in November, the city’s Code Enforcement Department took action to crack down on group homes in the city, creating a task force that identifies and inspects homes suspected of operating illegally.

“The city is always concerned about the public’s safety and where you have group homes and group living environments, the city wants to make sure that the building code requirements are met,” Code Compliance Manager Jon Pollard said.

In 2007, after a rash of complaints from residents, the City Council passed an ordinance requiring group homes and sober living facilities to apply for a “reasonable accommodation permit” and restricted them to a maximum of six occupants.

Sober living and group homes are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but boarding houses are illegal in low- to medium-density zoned areas of the city.

Police Chief Phillip Sanchez said although sober living facilities can be an essential way for recovering addicts to get off the streets, the facilities can be a safety concern.

“My concern with houses that don’t run according to the law or municipal codes is that it can present a health hazard and other quality of life issues,” Sanchez said.

He added that the houses can also be an issue for law enforcement if residents get into fights with one another or the house isn’t managed properly.

Pollard said since the task force began, six facilities have applied for permits, while the El Sereno house, which had 19 residents at the time of the fire — and another at 280 W. Washington owned by former City Council candidate Nicholas Benson — are being prosecuted for misdemeanor charges by the city.

Sober living houses are not required to have a license under state law, but many choose to register with either the California Association of Addiction and Recovery Resources (CAARR) or the Sober Living Network, two state organizations that regularly inspect the homes and hold them to a set of common standards.

In Pasadena, there are three facilities registered with CAARR and nine registered with the Sober Living Network.

Polly Carrasco, project director for the Sober Living Network, said Pasadena is not the only city to pile restrictions onto group homes.

“One of our biggest challenges right now is affordable housing for people in recovery and communities trying to shut our kinds of homes,” Carrasco said. “It is illegal for them to do that, although they do try on a regular basis.”

David Peters, director of external affairs for CAARR, said the community push back is fueled by the social stigma against what many people refer to as “halfway houses,” coupled with the fact there are a number of landlords that abuse the ADA protection rules.

“There are slumlords who are calling themselves the operator of a sober living house and that’s not what they are doing,” Peters said. “They are hiding behind the Americans with Disabilities Act by calling themselves that, but they are not being responsible at all.”

Peters said CAARR tried in 2007 to get legislation passed to require a state license for sober living houses but it was vetoed by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Benson, whose group home is not registered with CAARR or the Sober Living Network, faces 130 misdemeanor counts from the city for operating an illegal boarding house and 11 counts relating to dilapidation and substandard housing. He said, however, he’s not the slum landlord the city and others have accused him of being.

Citing the number of homeless in the city and people in need of affordable housing, he said he is just trying to help. His house at 280 W. Washington can accommodate 22 people, so he said he is frustrated he can’t fill it.

“I am not trying to be difficult with the city,” Benson said, adding that he is working to get his house up to code. “We have an obligation for people who are homeless, for people who are going through a rough time. As a citizen in this community, I can’t just ignore it.”

Benson dropped out of the City Council campaign after reports surfaced that he had a number of different names and had lied about his education credentials. He was also arrested recently for outstanding traffic warrants. He declined to comment on the other legal issues.

Contrary to complaints from service organizations and sober living operators, Pollard said the city is not trying to discriminate against recovering addicts.

“The application is pretty straightforward, it’s not an onerous application by any stretch of the imagination,” Pollard said, adding that he plans to continue to monitor complaints from residents as well as websites like Craigslist for group homes. “The city does not have the right to ban them outright, so it’s an unfair characterization to say the city doesn’t want them. What we do want is safe, clean, habitable dwellings for everybody, including group homes and sober living facilities.”

But Holbrook maintains the ordinance is discriminatory and inhibits his ability to help people in the community. He said he and other sober living operators in Pasadena are considering legal action against the city.

“It is important for the community to have these kinds of houses in moderation, run by people that have the desire and the ability to manage the property and the residents,” Holbrook said. “Some of these people are your doctor, your lawyer, your city council person, I’ve had fire department captains, I’ve had retired sheriffs, I’ve had city workers. It’s affecting everybody. It’s not just the wino on the corner.”