California to spend $1.49B on behavioral health and community housing grants

SACRAMENTO – Last Friday, California awarded $1.49 billion in grants focused on addressing the behavioral health crisis impacting every community across the state. These new grants will help people with mental health and substance use disorders get connected to housing on their path to treatment, provide care and housing for older adults, and increase capacity at mental health and substance use disorder facilities.

WHAT GOVERNOR NEWSOM SAID: “California is committed to addressing the mental health crisis that communities all across our state are facing, and we’re doing it as comprehensively and inclusively as we can. These new investments are a key part of how California is transforming the approach to helping people – meeting people where they are – and connecting them with the services and housing they need, when they need them.”

The announcement comes on the heels of the 2023 SNF Nostos Conference in Athens, Greece, where First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom delivered remarks alongside California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly highlighting California’s behavioral health investments and the state’s comprehensive approach to addressing behavioral health from prevention through recovery.

DETAILS ON THE NEW GRANTS:

• $907 million from the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) through its Behavioral Health Bridge Housing (BHBH) program to address the immediate housing and treatment needs of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness who also have serious behavioral health conditions.
• $430 million from the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) through its Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) to increase mental health and substance use disorder treatment facilities in 21 counties.
• $153 million from the Department of Social Services (DSS) through its new Community Care Expansion (CCE) program to 19 organizations across the state to create more residential care options for seniors and adults with disabilities, including Californians at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness.

BIGGER PICTURE: This week, Governor Newsom unveiled a legislative package to transform California’s behavioral health care system, authored by Senator Eggman and Assemblymember Irwin, that will reform the Mental Health Services Act and include a $4.68 billion general bond to build 10,000 new behavioral health beds with a focus on accountability