Ending California’s mental health crisis

The projects were funded by the state’s Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) and Bond BHCIP grants, managed by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). Bond BHCIP awards are funded through Proposition 1, which was approved by voters in 2024. Bond BHCIP builds upon the foundation of the earlier BHCIP initiative, which began in 2021 in partnership with the Legislature and was previously funded through the state budget.

Programs such as BHCIP and Bond BHCIP have helped create more residential and crisis treatment centers statewide.  

Together, these efforts help strengthen the state’s long‑term community‑based behavioral health infrastructure – and have helped  California achieve the first statewide reduction in unsheltered homelessness in 15 years — a 9% drop. 

“These investments are transforming the behavioral health landscape in every corner of the state,” said California Health & Human Services Secretary Kim Johnson. “By partnering with counties, Tribal communities, and local providers, we are expanding access to high‑quality care and strengthening the continuum of services that Californians rely on. The progress this quarter shows the impact we can achieve when we work together with urgency and purpose.”

“Every groundbreaking and every new facility reflects our commitment to building a behavioral health system that truly serves Californians,” said DHCS Director Michelle Baass. “With Proposition 1 and BHCIP, we are expanding capacity, reducing barriers to care, and supporting providers who are delivering life‑changing treatment. We are grateful to our partners across the state who are helping make this progress possible.

With projects moving rapidly from planning to construction, the state continues to exceed its capacity goals for new residential beds and outpatient treatment slots while prioritizing investment in Tribal, rural, and underserved regions. This release reflects the cumulative impact of all BHCIP and Bond BHCIP grant rounds. Here are just some of the projects with recent updates throughout the state:

Strengthening Rural Treatment Capacity

Expanding residential and recovery treatment

Building a stronger mental health system 

Proposition 1 and BHCIP fit within a broader behavioral health strategy, Mental Health for All, which represents California’s continued commitment to responsibly investing public dollars to strengthen the state’s behavioral health system. Launched under Governor Gavin Newsom’s leadership, this bold initiative is building a stronger, more equitable, and more accountable behavioral health system for Californians across their lifespans. 

From addressing the crisis of loneliness in young men through the state’s Path and Purpose Initiative, strengthening tools like the 988 suicide hotline, expanding community mental health supports, building stronger prevention strategies, improving reentry through more robust reentry strategies, building more housing and support, creating stronger trauma and crisis response for children, investing in California’s behaviorlal health workforce and establishing a first-in-the nation CARE Court process to help severally mentally ill people treatment, Governor Newsom is repairing a broken system that has suffered from decades of neglect. 

This neglect began under then-Governor Reagan’s administration, when state hospitals were closed, and no adequate alternative was provided, leaving people most in need of help to fall into the criminal justice system or homelessness. This created a generational impact. 

Today, across California, individuals with untreated psychosis are 10 times more likely to experience homelessness and 16 times more likely to be incarcerated. Through the many programs and strategies of California’s strong behavioral health continuum, the state is turning this crisis around.

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