HHS unveils program to address homelessness and addiction, part of a set of new initiatives

NEW YORK (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday announced that his department will devote $100 million toward a pilot program addressing homelessness and substance abuse in eight cities, building on an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week related to addiction.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will also make faith-based organizations eligible for addiction-related grants and expand states’ ability to use federal health funding for substance abuse treatment in certain situations involving children, Kennedy said at an annual “Prevention Day” event for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The new initiatives signal the administration acting on an issue that hits close to home for many Americans – including Kennedy, who has been open about his past heroin addiction and lifelong commitment to recovery. They represent some quick momentum for Trump’s executive order signed last Thursday launching what Trump calls the “Great American Recovery Initiative” to better align federal resources on the addiction crisis.

Yet the announcements come as the administration’s actions so far have created uncertainty, fear and logistical challenges for mental health and substance abuse treatment providers around the country.

Over the past year, about a third of SAMHSA's roughly 900 employees have been laid off. The agency and the organizations it serves are still reeling from the administration's whiplash-inducing reversal last month that briefly eliminated then abruptly restored $2 billion in grant funding for substance abuse and mental health programs. Advocates and providers have said they don't feel they can plan for the future because the administration has created an environment of uncertainty.

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the department is “focused on reform and ensuring that federal resources are used effectively, responsibly, and in ways that deliver real results for those struggling and their families.”

“As part of the Great American Recovery announced just last week, HHS is moving forward with new funding, expanded flexibilities, and targeted actions that strengthen the mental health and substance use treatment system and provide greater support for providers on the ground,” he said.

Federal data shows that overdose deaths fell through most of last year, suggesting a lasting improvement in an epidemic that had been worsening for decades. Still, that decline was slowing, the figures showed.

Kennedy said SAMHSA's new pilot program will be called STREETS, or Safety Through Recovery, Engagement and Evidence-Based Treatment and Supports. He said the program, first directed at eight unspecified communities, will build integrated care systems for people experiencing homelessness, substance abuse and mental health challenges and help them find housing and employment.

While that's an idea many advocates support, “the devil's in the details,” said Regina LaBelle, director of the Center on Addiction and Public Policy at Georgetown Law’s O’Neill Institute.

LaBelle said the real-world impact of the funding depends on which cities receive it and how the program is implemented. She also raised questions about how the program was paid for, and whether it will take away from others that already have successfully lowered overdose death rates.

Later Monday, Kennedy appeared at another event focused on substance abuse and mental health – the launch of a bipartisan initiative called Action for Progress by his cousin, former Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy, now a partner at the national health consultancy Healthsperien.

The two scions of one of the nation’s most prominent political families fell on different sides of the 2024 presidential race but have found common ground on the issue that is personal for both of them, said Patrick Kennedy, who has shared publicly about his bipolar disorder and battle with alcoholism and drug addiction.

“When we go into recovery rooms we don’t think of ourselves as Democrats and Republicans,” the former Rhode Island congressman said in a phone interview Monday. “I've grown up with my cousin, I know him, and I have an opportunity to share with him all that I've learned over the years in policymaking on mental health and addiction — and he's welcomed it.”