How is California walks in proportion 1 money for mental health?

From Marisa Kendall., Jocelyn Wiener and Erika YesCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Just over a year after the Californians approved a $ 6.4 billion mental health bond with a nail vote, we get our first look at how this money will be spent.

Last month, governor Gavin Newsom awarded almost half of the money for projects ranging from the Del Norte Norte Rural County Stabilization Department to a program for the treatment of mothers addiction in Los Angeles. The original $ 3.3 billion should fund more than $ 5,000 beds and 21,800 outpatient treatment slots for people who are struggling with their mental health or addiction, according to his office.

This is 74% of the beds and 82% of outpatient treatment slots that the relationship initially promisedS

“That’s the question of our time and we don’t spend time,” Newsom said during a press conference for funding. “We are dealing with this crisis with this sense of urgency you deserve.”

Mental health defenders and district leaders claim to be impressed with the speed with which the state has released awards and with improved geographical distribution of areas such as the Central Valley compared to past rounds of funding.

But they also express fears that California is quick to “once in a life opportunity” without adequately analyzes the types of mental health services that the state needs most. This analysis is especially important, according to them, given that Newsom has launched a raft of new mental health policies and use of substances in the last few years.

Adding to the complexity: the mass cuts of the state and the federal funding are outlined for the mental health services.

While calling the “incredibly significant” relationship, Michel Cabrera, CEO of the District Health Association of Directors, said new state policies would require investment in specialized forms of treatment. In part, for this reason, she would like to be able to “hit the pause and really think about what is around the corner.”

“I think we were surprised by driving to become so hard at the moment when there are still many things that need to be developed,” she said.

More evenly distributing funds

Now you may be wondering: where do all this money goes? Will he go to my community? And how long before I expect to see results?

Los Angeles County received just over $ 1 billion for 35 projects. The area of ​​the nine-round bay has won almost $ 500 million for 19 projects. Freshno County, which has been neglected in recent years, has won awards for four different projects.

The largest number of grants went to residential facilities treating violations in the use of substances in adults, followed by outpatient outpatient addiction programs and mental health clinics. But the money also went to sobering centers, peer recreation programs working from people who have experienced their own challenges for mental health, and programs, especially for children and adolescents.

That the money comes from Proposal 1Which California Voters approved According to the largest margins – 50.2% to 49.8% – in March 2024, about $ 4.4 billion from this $ 6.4 billion bond was to treat mental health and addiction. The rest is for a permanent home, which comes with services and support for people fighting mental illness or addiction.

Financing is supposed to increase Newsom’s greater Mental health programS He signed a legislation that makes it easier Put people in the treatment (both voluntarily and unintentionally) and tried to Leave on homeless camps Where people fight mental illness or addiction, they sometimes live.

But some mental health defenders are worried that the state does not even know what services already exist in every county, let alone a clear picture of the types of treatment that will be needed to meet the demand created by these new policies.

“It really cannot be overestimated how much the state is that the state has no system to do so,” says Corey Hashida, a senior research associate at the Steinberg Institute, based in Sacramento Mental Health Advocacy Organization. In their research, Hashida and his colleagues found a shortage of short -term crisis beds in the country. Despite the fact that these types of beds tend to be less expensive and less restrictive, he said, much of the focus focuses on the creation of stationary psychiatric beds.

In addition to $ 3.3 billion in props, 1 money that has already been talked applications Recently open to $ 800 million that the Newsom office plans to award to finance more beds for the next spring. Another $ 2 billion will go for new permanent homes as part of Newsom’s Homekey+ Program – including $ 1 billion intended for veterans. The state is expected to decide these awards this summer.

Money for the healing beds will be implemented through an existing state program that has taken out $ 1.8 million to help build mental health facilities and treat substances after its launch in 2021 with a prophet of prop. 1 money, the program will expand by nearly 150%.

But the existing grant program for behavioral health has not always met the needs of California, According to a report This year by the State Legislative Analyzer Office.

South Valley of San Joaquin (cities Freshno, Inio, Kern, Kings and Tulare) has the most need for more adult beds for mental health, According to an assessment from the brain Trust of Rand. And yet, before prop. Instead, 55% of the adults’ mental health beds, funded by the grants, were in places that are least likely to need them: the San Diego and Los Angeles Counts, the North Valley of San Hoaquin and the northeast corner of the state, from Modok to Sacramento.

In the past, Freshno County was one of the areas left outside the state awards for funding, although they needed more beds for psychiatric treatment, said Susan Holt, director of the Ministry of Behavioral Health of the County. When the county beds are full, patients have to go to the surrounding cities – or sometimes to northern or southern California – to find care, she said.

However, the state rejected two applications in 2022, which would help Fereno County to build new psychiatric facilities. A third application was filed, but the State Department of Health Services canceled the money after the building that the county intends to renovate and become a burned out center for housing treatment.

Luck in the region seems to have changed with prop. 1. The three Freshno County Awards in the last funding round should help the county Create 32 new patients for patients and 2255 outpatient treatment slots. One of the new facilities will be a locked unit for people suffering from a severe disorder of the use of substances, or at the same time mental illness and a disorder of the use of substances. This is created in response to the Newsom law signed in 2023, which has made it easier for people with serious mental illness and disorders of the use of substances from last year to receive unintentional treatmentS

The fourth award, at the hospital and the Fresno Medical Center, will allow the hospital to add 107 beds for patients.

The fact that the Central Valley did well this time, Holt said, “is” a very good indication that the state is working to evaluate where the gaps are and accordingly allocate resources. “

Another area that won this time is the region of the northern coast of California, which extends from Del Norte to the Counts Sonoma. He received the most money per capita from each region-more than $ 24 million per $ 100,000.

Of this money, $ 4 million will go to Sutter Coast Hospital to help build the first psychiatric establishment of Del Norte County. Since there are currently no stationary or outpatient healing units in the whole county, patients in need of psychiatric care should sometimes travel to Sacramento, almost seven -hour driving.

A $ 4 million grant will fund a new outpatient crisis facility at Crescent City, where patients can stabilize up to 23 hours before being discarded or transferred to a longer-term facility.

“The one we thought would be a long shot,” says Jody Nerel, director of the local mental health commitment for Sutter Health, who said that previous state grants rarely finance these types of rural facilities. She called it a “huge victory.” The Crescent City project is expected to open in the first quarter of 2026.

Narrow terms for prop. 1 projects

It is estimated that ten of the Prop project. A Investigation of CalMatters From a 2018 housing bond, $ 2 billion shows how big promises can lead to disappointment. More than five years after California voters approved a place as a home, only 1797 out of 20,000 homes promised for people living with mental illness.

“The deadlines are narrow,” the Ministry of Behavioral Health of Freshno County said Holt, said Prop funds. 1. “We work feverishly to deal with all the conditions, but they are powerful. And this is a very complicated process for the implementation of these projects.”

Prop. $ 1 are intended to fund projects to start ready -made, which can be completed quickly. This means that applicants must prove a long list of factors, including that they own or have a long -term leasing for the project site, they have the support of the surrounding community and that they also have their own funding to pour into the project.

However, district leaders say that some of the same problems that do not delay a place as home construction – like nimbism – still cannot be a problem this time. Cabrera, by the Association of Directors of Behavioral Health of the County, said it was important to continue to track the implementation and sustainability of these projects over time.

“We can look at something on paper and decide that” yes, this is what the community needs “and when we reach the local planning and approval process, we are stuck in it,” she said.

The state has prioritized ready -to -start projects even before support 1. But this way of thinking can make it difficult for applicants to apply for small and disadvantaged positions and may mean that the state misses financing to finance complex, difficult to build facilities, according to the report of the legislative analyzer office.

This is part of the reason that Kern County has not tried for prop. The county has a long process that must be held before purchasing a property or launching a construction project that does not align with the ratio of a rapid summary of the state, Burrose said.

“For us to have the projects and the ready -to -shovel,” she said, “We just had nothing in the wings.” Instead, Kern County supported the city of Bakersfield as he was looking for (and won) a grant for an outpatient service facility for the treatment of substances.

Rural communities are particularly difficult, said Neril from Sutter Health. The submission of these applications requires a huge administrative elevator, and small, rural facilities have no staff to devote to this task, she said.

“This is a challenge for small communities in rural areas to continue after these types of things, because it simply requires many of all the hands of the deck,” Nerel said. “It was a frightening task, thinking how we could do this in a rural area.”

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.