A kidnapping in Seaford last month has stirred local anxieties about a rise in violent crime, prompting the city’s police chief to call for increased oversight of Seaford’s half-dozen recovery homes. But some housing providers warn the city’s reaction has spread misinformation.
On January 13, a recovery house in Seaford ejected 23-year-old Ralph Harmon — apparently for violating house rules.
Minutes later, Harmon attacked and kidnapped an 80-year-old woman, stealing her car and driving her to Salisbury, where he was apprehended by Maryland State Police.
News of the kidnapping spread quickly, and at a Seaford City Council meeting two weeks later, a half-dozen residents demanded that the city expand its police department.
In the wake of the incident, Craft also began drawing links between a recent increase in violent crime and Seaford's half-dozen houses for people recovering from substance use disorder. In comments at a meeting of Delaware's Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission and in an email to Delaware Public Media, Craft focused on so-called "three-quarters houses": a type of recovery housing that complies with a set of federal requirements — all residents must remain sober, for instance — and that receives federal protection from local regulations.
Three-quarters houses can also serve as re-entry housing for people leaving Department of Correction custody while recovering from addiction. Outside of Wilmington, Seaford — along with neighboring Blades and nearby Laurel — have the highest per-capita incarceration rates in Delaware, creating outside demand for re-entry housing.
"It is our understanding, which is not yet confirmed, that a three-quarters house has up to 7 days to report probationers that may have violated the terms of their probation, such as under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol," Craft wrote. "If this is true, it is very concerning. This type of violation may result in the probationer being asked to leave the ¾ house with no notification to local police and a delayed notification to probation & parole as stated above. Our department has experienced several recent crimes of opportunity, within city limits, that involve probationers under these circumstances and this is very concerning for the safety of our community."
But Seaford’s three-quarter house operators say the facility that ejected Harmon is not, in fact, a three-quarters house. In their view, any frustrations with protections they receive are misplaced.
"There’s a public misconception," said David Baugh, co-founder of the nonprofit three-quarters housing provider Square One, which operates three houses in Seaford. "We’re doing everything right, but I can’t speak for everyone else. There may be discrepancies between what a three-quarters house is and what a transitional house is."
Baugh says that the federal protections for three-quarters houses are intended to prevent local governments from using zoning rules or other regulatory powers to close recovery housing.
The facility that ejected Harmon did not respond to a request for comment, but Baugh and other providers underscore that while local frustrations with crime committed by recovery housing residents is understandable, the housing providers themselves often lack the resources to care for residents with serious behavioral health challenges.
Susan Kent, Director of the affordable housing developer Better Homes of Seaford, says the incident should prompt state and local officials to fund more structured housing options for people like Harmon with severe behavioral health problems — not to target housing providers that don't benefit from federal protections.
"I don’t think we should put the grassroots groups out of business," she said. "I think we should support them. Bring more resources."
Without low-barrier housing for people in recovery, she says, many would simply be homeless. Baugh adds that a person with serious behavioral health problems will present a public safety challenge whether or not they are housed. "It isn't better to have them out on the street and potentially more desperate."
Meanwhile, the Seaford City Council voted last month to add five new officers to its police department, including a full-time community policing officer.
