Recent commentary in The Coast News, “Solutions abandons commitment to sobriety at its own risk,” has drawn a sweeping — and deeply inaccurate — conclusion from a single line in a press release announcing my appointment as interim CEO of Solutions for Change.
The suggestion that the organization is preparing to abandon its foundational commitment to sobriety in pursuit of government funding is simply wrong. It deserves a clear correction.
Let’s start with the facts.
Solutions for Change has built its entire model on one core principle: sobriety is non-negotiable. It is not a talking point. It is the backbone of our approach, the reason our outcomes endure, and the very reason we have intentionally forgone most state and federal homelessness funding since the adoption of Housing First as the dominant — and often exclusive — public funding framework.
That decision was not accidental, convenient, or cost-free. It was principled.
Housing First, as implemented through most state and federal channels, explicitly prohibits requiring sobriety as a condition of participation. Solutions for Change rejected that approach because we have seen, over decades, what happens when recovery is optional and accountability is diluted. We chose a harder path because it works.
That commitment has not changed. It is not changing. And it will not change on my watch.
The line that sparked this criticism referenced “assessing Solutions for Change’s current position relative to funding opportunities.” That language was neither coded nor duplicitous. It reflects responsible leadership — ensuring the organization understands the evolving funding landscape without compromising its values.
Critically, the funding landscape is evolving.
At the federal level, there has been a growing recognition that a single-model approach to homelessness has failed to produce durable results. The Trump Administration has explicitly encouraged a more diversified strategy, including pathways that prioritize recovery, accountability, and long-term independence. As a result, funding streams through the Department of Housing and Urban Development are increasingly supporting programs that more closely resemble Solutions for Change than Housing First.
Those are among the funding opportunities being evaluated, along with private grants, partnerships, and philanthropic investments. None of them requires abandoning sobriety. Many explicitly value it.
The implication that Solutions for Change is chasing a “taxpayer-funded gravy train” misunderstands both our history and my own.
I was raised in a family profoundly impacted by drug and alcohol addiction and the chaos that so often accompanies it. Recognizing early in my life the connection between drug and alcohol abuse and terrible life outcomes, at the age of 11, I made a personal vow of complete abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and drugs — a vow I have kept to this day. That decision, among others, provided the foundation from which I built my life and career.
For more than 20 years, I served on the board of the North Coastal Prevention Coalition, including 12 years as its president, helping develop nationally recognized substance-abuse prevention strategies. I also served as the founding co-chair of San Diego County’s Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force, which became a national model. I speak and write frequently about the importance of sobriety, including during my volunteer teaching at Solutions for Change, Operation HOPE-North County, and other organizations where people seek to build — or rebuild — their lives. My professional and personal record on sobriety is neither new nor ambiguous.
It is precisely because of this record — and because of my alignment with Solutions for Change’s core philosophy — that I was asked to step into this role.
The bottom line is simple: sobriety is not an accessory to the Solutions for Change model. It is the engine. We will continue to defend it, advance it, and make the case — based on evidence and outcomes — that recovery, accountability, and agency are indispensable to breaking the cycle of homelessness.
Those principles are not negotiable. They never have been.
Aaron Byzak is the new interim CEO of Solutions for Change
