Alliance Alert: The Department of Health and Human Services is launching a $700 million set of initiatives focused on increasing supports afforded to people who are homeless and have substance use and/or major mental health challenges. There’s a particular focus on enhancing Certified Community Behavioral Health (CCBHCs), 988 and other crisis services and a new STREETS program, housed within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), that will award eight communities up to $3 million a year for four years.
STREET’s aims to “expand targeted street outreach, crisis intervention, and medical stabilization for individuals experiencing homelessness and severe mental illness (SMI) or substance use disorders.”
The Alliance has very mixed views about STREETS: while the goal of increasing access to services is one we share, the program requires extensive involvement from law enforcement, courts, correctional systems, and civil commitment processes, and conditions housing assistance on participation in treatment.
We are extremely concerned that these approaches will violate people’s rights and due process protections and risk increasing criminalization and institutionalization rather than addressing the root causes of homelessness, trauma, poverty and social isolation. The Alliance calls on the Administration and Congress to increase investments in voluntary, community-based solutions that help people secure lasting access housing, treatment, recovery supports, and community integration without coercion. See below for more details.
HHS Unveils $700M To Expand Behavioral Health, Housing Effort
Valerie A. Canady Mental Health Weekly June 26, 2026
Bottom Line…
The new federal investment boosts CCBHCs, 988 and homelessness care, but its impact will depend on state capacity, workforce, housing and debate over STREETS.
Federal officials are directing more than $700 million toward behavioral health programs, with new funding slated for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs), 988 crisis services and efforts to address homelessness among people with mental illness and substance use disorders. The announcement, made June 17 by U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., includes investments for an initiative called STREETS (Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-Based Treatment and Supports).
The STREETS program, housed within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), will award eight communities up to $3 million a year for four years. The program will distribute up to $24 million each year, totaling $96 million over four years, to develop multisector, state-of-the-art care systems for people who are homeless and have substance use disorders, serious mental illness or co-occurring disorders, according to the HHS news release, by linking outreach, treatment, recovery supports and housing services, according to HHS.
Other funding
$223.1 million for CCBHCs
This funding will support existing CCBHCs in sustaining and enhancing mental health and substance use disorder services, help establish new CCBHCs in underserved areas to address gaps in care, and assist states in developing certification systems that prepare them to participate in the CCBHC Medicaid Demonstration Program, HHS stated.
Additionally, funding will include:
- $117.1 million for CCBHC Improvement and Advancement Grants;
- $94 million for CCBHC Planning, Development, and Implementation Grants; and
- $12 million for CCBHC State Planning Grants.
$238.6 million for the 988 & Suicide Crisis Lifeline
The following programs will strengthen local 988 capacity and state/territorial responses across calls, texts, and chats; enhance services for high-risk populations; improve support in tribal communities and for American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN); and expand post-contact follow-up to reduce suicide, overdose deaths and future crises:
- $211.1 million for Cooperative Agreements for States and Territories to improve local 988 capacity;
- $20 million for 988 Tribal Response Cooperative Agreements; and
- $7.5 million for Cooperative Agreements for 988 Suicide Lifeline Crisis Center follow-up programs.
More than $70 million for mental health services and supports
These programs will address childhood trauma, expand mobile crisis care, divert individuals from justice involvement to community-based treatment, support suicide prevention for AI/AN populations, and meet the needs of at-risk infants and young children.
Funding includes:
- $14.4M — National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative;
- $15.3M — Tribal Behavioral Health Suicide Prevention;
- $15.2M — Behavioral Health Mobile Crisis Team Partnerships;
- $6.8M — Circles of Care (AI/AN);
- $7M — Early Diversion Partnerships;
- $5.9M — Trauma-Informed Services for Children and Youth; and
- $5.6M — Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health.
“The Alliance supports investments in voluntary, community-based solutions that help people
access housing, treatment, recovery supports, and community integration without coercion.”
Luke Sikinyi
State perspective
HHS has framed the more than $700 million investment as a major push to strengthen mental health, substance use treatment and housing-related supports nationwide. Brian M. Hepburn, M.D., executive director of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, said the funding marks a meaningful step forward for states. “This $700 million investment represents a significant milestone by embedding intensive behavioral health resources into street-level outreach,” Hepburn told MHW.
As states begin planning for the eight STREETS grants aimed at linking people experiencing homelessness to treatment and recovery supports, implementation will hinge on coordination and evidence-based care. “States will be focusing on building strong partnerships between local city/county governments, clinical outreach teams, and emergency services,” Hepburn said. “They will be using evidence-based care models that support stabilization and recovery.”
Even with new funding opportunities, states will have to navigate ongoing capacity constraints as they scale services, added Hepburn. “The nationwide shortage of behavioral health professionals remains an ongoing challenge,” he said. “States will need to develop innovative strategies to staff the outreach teams. To maximize the success of treatment-focused programs, local communities will continue working to expand the availability of supportive, recovery-oriented housing slots.”
STREETS program
Advocacy response to the new STREETS initiative has been mixed, with some advocates raising concerns about how the program is structured.
The Alliance for Rights and Recovery said the initiative places too much emphasis on coercive approaches rather than voluntary engagement. “While the goal of increasing access to services is one we share, the program requires extensive involvement from law enforcement, courts, correctional systems, and civil commitment processes, and conditions housing assistance on participation in treatment,” Luke Sikinyi, vice president of public policy for the Alliance for Rights and Recovery, told MHW.
The Alliance also pointed to restrictions on Housing First models, noting that the program ties housing assistance to treatment participation. Decades of research, the group said, show that voluntary, person-centered services, peer support, harm reduction and Housing First approaches are more effective in promoting housing stability, recovery outcomes and long-term engagement.
“Perhaps most concerning, the STREETS program is explicitly tied to Executive Order 14321, ‘Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,’ which promotes expanded civil commitment, increased use of outpatient commitment, enforcement of camping and loitering laws, greater involvement of mental health and drug courts, and the rejection of Housing First and harm reduction approaches,” Sikinyi explained.
He added, “We believe these policies risk increasing criminalization and institutionalization rather than addressing the root causes of homelessness. The Alliance supports investments in voluntary, community-based solutions that help people access housing, treatment, recovery supports, and community integration without coercion.”