Governor Hochul Announces Plan to Address Public Safety Challenges Associated with Serious Mental Illness

Governor Hochul today announced a plan to address the public safety challenges associated with serious mental illness as a part of her 2024 State of the State address. The Governor’s proposal will provide a new, significant expansion of psychiatric beds and services for individuals with acute needs. To address the needs of this population and minimize deeper penetration into the criminal justice system, as well as reducing frequent emergency room visits or periods of homelessness, a continuum of interventions is necessary. Governor Hochul will support an unprecedented level of coordination between law enforcement and mental health professionals at the state and local level.

“For decades, our mental health system was deprioritized and defunded. Make no mistake: this is the defining challenge of our time,” Governor Hochul said. “Too often, the people involved in violent incidents on our streets and in our subways are victims themselves — victims of a system that has failed to provide them the treatment they need. Last year, we set a bold ambitious goal to invest $1 billion to transform the continuum of mental health care in New York and we’ll continue fighting for comprehensive reforms to our behavioral health system.”

Office of Mental Health Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan said, “By expanding access to inpatient beds, crisis intervention services and specialized housing, Governor’s Hochul’s plan will help ensure that people who are living with serious mental illness can get the services they need quickly, effectively, and when they need them most, especially when they are experiencing a behavioral health crisis. And by expanding crisis intervention training, we can help prevent the interactions that sometimes lead to escalation and negative outcomes.”

As part of the Governor’s transformational vision to address existing gaps in mental health services and supports, Governor Hochul’s $1 billion plan is already helping to build early intervention and youth programs; expand access to clinics and housing; and provide employment incentives for mental healthcare workers. The plan is also improving insurance coverage, and adding hospital capacity so that the most seriously ill can receive the care they require.

Building on this work, new funding in FY 2025 will support the following:

Opening 200 New Psychiatric Inpatient Beds under Multi-Year Expansion Plan

Governor Hochul will provide funding to establish three additional 25-bed Transition to Home Units (THUs) to expand the availability of this successful program to more populations in need of specialized care, including individuals with histories of recurring criminal justice involvement. The Governor will also create 100 new civil capacity inpatient psychiatric beds, 15 of which will service children and adolescents who have specialized needs, including those in foster care or with other systems involvement. To ensure access to high quality mental health services in the forensic mental health system and restore individuals who have been charged with a crime to competency, the Governor will create 25 new forensic psychiatric inpatient beds and repurpose 50 existing psychiatric inpatient beds to specifically service those awaiting restoration to competency before trial.

Governor Hochul also facilitated the return of nearly 500 inpatient psychiatric beds taken offline during the COVID-19 pandemic after issuing a directive to community-based hospitals in 2023. She was also able to expand inpatient capacity by opening 50 new THU beds in 2022 and 150 new state-operated psychiatric inpatient beds in 2023, marking the largest expansion at of state psychiatric inpatient capacity in decades.

Establishing Law Enforcement and Mental Health Coordination Team and Funding Crisis Intervention Training for Law Enforcement

To focus on the relatively small number of individuals known to cycle through shelters, hospitals, jails and prisons, Governor Hochul will create a dedicated team at the Office of Mental Health. This team will be responsible for establishing and monitoring data shared by law enforcement, correctional entities, hospitals and providers to facilitate connections to services, including housing, and will work through the Office of Mental Health regional field offices to collaborate with local mental health providers and resources. The Governor will also expand Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training, which has been shown to support better outcomes when law enforcement responds to individuals in mental health crisis, thereby reducing arrests, and increasing connections to mental health services.

Improving Mental Health Admission and Discharge Procedures for Hospitals

Governor Hochul directed the Office of Mental Health (OMH) and Department of Health (DOH) to issue regulations for emergency rooms, inpatient psychiatric units, psychiatric hospitals, and Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Programs (CPEPs) on their responsibilities when admitting and discharging patients that present behavioral health conditions.

To ensure New Yorkers do not fall through the cracks after hospital visits, hospitals will be required to screen patients with mental health conditions for risk of suicide, violence, substance use and other complex needs; provide a hand-off to an aftercare provider for those with complex needs; and schedule a follow-up psychiatric appointment within seven days when possible. In addition, funding will be provided to OMH to expand surveillance and regulatory compliance activities across its licensed and unlicensed program settings, including hospital inpatient programs and CPEPs.

Funding Mental Health Court Expansion and Court-Based Mental Health Specialists

In recognizing and seeking to meet individual mental health needs, the state is using mental health courts to address underlying causes of criminal justice system involvement. To increase the number and availability of mental health courts, the Governor will dedicate funding to establish new mental health courts and allow for existing courts to take on more cases.

Governor Hochul will also fund mental health navigators in county court systems that will be responsible for identifying defendants who have a history of mental health treatment, lack of engagement in treatment or other mental health concerns. These specialists will work with the Law Enforcement and Mental Health Coordination Team and local providers to refer individuals to treatment and services, including housing. Emphasis will be placed on recruiting specialists with lived experience of mental health challenges to facilitate greater trust and engagement.

Increasing Transitional and Specialized Housing

The Governor will increase access to transitional housing for individuals to have options other than shelters after being released from custody. These units will be served by professionals who can provide case management assistance to individuals with mental illness in obtaining permanent housing, employment, mental health and substance use treatment and other individualized recovery goals. Additionally, the Governor will fund specialized housing for individuals with a history of repeated arrests and difficulty engaging in mental health treatment, with designated staff to provide both individual-level case support and also crisis and de-escalation support for residential staff.

Funding New Community-Based Teams

The Governor’s proposal will provide funding for Intensive Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) teams that will deliver around-the-clock support to individuals with serious mental illness. These teams’ responsibilities are to maintain lower caseloads and provide continuous, on-the-ground engagement to facilitate connections to care and housing, while ensuring adherence to medication and treatment plans, and also support life skill development.