September 14, 2022

State/County Partnership on Behavioral Health Housing, Workforce, Funding Critical to CARE Court Success 

Sacramento, CA – The County Behavioral Health Directors’ Association of California (CBHDA) released the following statement from Executive Director Michelle Doty Cabrera on Governor Newsom’s signing of SB 1338, which phases in the new CARE Court program beginning in seven counties in 2023 and then statewide in 2024. 

“With Governor Newsom’s signature on SB 1338, the state and county behavioral health departments will jointly embark on creating a new pathway for individuals to access the county mental health services safety net. Californians are counting on our success with this initiative as a part of the state’s broader efforts to address homelessness. Success will depend in large part on our state partners’ commitment to improve the availability of housing for county behavioral health clients, addressing the behavioral health workforce crisis, and investment of new funds to administer CARE Court without siphoning resources from the hundreds of thousands of county clients already counting on the vital behavioral health and substance use disorder services we provide. 
 
“Since CARE Court was first proposed, CBHDA has worked closely with the Administration to develop a program that meets these goals. Implementation will be contingent on developing an agreement for state funding to realize the CARE Court vision. We are pleased the program will require agreement on resources for these new responsibilities and will be phased in gradually, beginning in seven counties. 
 
“Our counties are already hard at work in preparing ourselves and we look forward to aligning the state’s recent workforce and housing investments, such as the $1.5 billion in Bridge Housing, to prepare for this first-of-its-kind new approach to services. 
 
“County behavioral health directors look forward to continued partnership with the Governor on broader investments and structural reforms to allow individuals with mental health and substance use disorder conditions to be prioritized for housing, regardless of whether they come through the CARE Court door. Too many of our clients face some form of housing discrimination, and we are long-overdue for policy changes at the federal level to ensure that our local housing agencies are able to prioritize our homeless clients who may be recently coming out of treatment. Housing is a key to stabilizing individuals on the path to long-term recovery. CARE Court cannot give us comfort that our work to innovate on homelessness is done. Rather, it is just beginning.