Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kennedy announced over $700 million in federal grants for addressing homelessness, mental health, and addiction.

The details: That includes $96 million for the Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-Based Treatment and Support (STREETS) program and $612 million for additional behavioral health programs.

The STREETS program will award 8 communities up to $3 million a year for 4 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.” The program will emphasize rapid, comprehensive, and coordinated street-based engagement, treatment, and recovery support services using an approach that brings together local government, health and housing providers, law enforcement, and the courts.
$223.1 million will go towards Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) (CCBHC Improvement and Enhancement Grants; CCBHC Planning, Development, and Implementation Grants; CCBHC State Planning Grants)
$236.8 million will go towards 988 (Cooperative Agreements for States and Territories to Improve Local 988 Capacity; 988 Tribal Response Cooperative Agreements; Cooperative Agreements for 988 Suicide Lifeline Crisis Center Follow-Up Programs)
$80 million will go towards substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery programs (Rural Emergency Medical Services Training Program; Building Communities of Recovery; Strategic Prevention Framework; Adult and Family Treatment Drug Courts; Rural Opioid Technical Assistance; Treatment and Recovery Services for Youth, Young Adults, and Families; State Pilot Program for Treatment of Pregnant and Postpartum Women; Services Program for Residential Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women; Tribal Opioid Response Program; Preventing Youth Overdose; Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking)
$70 million will go towards mental health services and supports (National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative; Tribal Behavioral Health Suicide Prevention; Behavioral Health Mobile Crisis Team Partnerships; Circles of Care for American Indian/Alaska Natives; Behavioral Health Partnerships for Early Diversion; Trauma-Informed Support Services and Mental Health Care for Children and Youth; Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health)

BUT: While HHS presented the opportunities as “new funding,” experts identified the funding as existing grants Congress had previously authorized that had been delayed by the federal government.

Many of these grants have existed for years, since prior administrations. But the notices of funding opportunity this year came 2-5 months after grantees say they were expected.
Experts said the funds for the new STREETS program appear to be pulled from other existing programs and do not constitute “new funding.” The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which oversees this funding, has not received a funding boost in years.

The bigger picture: In announcing the funding, Kennedy also attacked federal expansions of harm reduction efforts, saying harm reduction “doesn’t work” and that such efforts have “led to the proliferation of open-air drug markets around the country.” He also dismissed concerns about how the $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts passed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would impact addiction services nationwide.