Robert F Kennedy Jr announced on Monday $100m in new grants for a pilot program aimed at addressing homelessness and substance use recovery in eight cities, building on an executive order Donald Trump signed last week related to addiction.
The funds will be distributed as part of the Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Supports (Streets) program, which will be managed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Samhsa) within the Department of Health and Human Services.
Last month, the Trump administration abruptly canceled $2bn in Samhsa grant funding for addiction and mental health programs. Following a bipartisan backlash in Congress, the funds were reinstated within 24 hours. And over the last year, about a third of Samhsa’s 900 employees have been laid off, creating an environment of uncertainty, fear and logistical challenges for mental health and substance abuse treatment providers around the country.
Kennedy announced the new program at a Samhsa event marking “Prevention Day”. During his speech, he said funding for homelessness and addiction treatment must be aligned in order to address the setbacks that prevent long-term recovery.
The current system, Kennedy said, encouraged people with severe mental illness and addiction to “cycle endlessly between sidewalks, emergency room visits, jails, and mental hospitals and shelters”.
“No one took responsibility for the whole person. No one stayed long enough to help them recover, to help them re-establish their links and teach them the lessons of how to live in a community,” Kennedy said. “That system is neither humane nor effective.”
The program will be aimed at early intervention and build integrated care systems for people experiencing homelessness, substance abuse and mental health challenges in eight specific communities, and help them find sober housing as well as employment, the health secretary said.
“We find them on the street, we move them from crisis to detox treatment to housing to employment, and ultimately to connecting, reconnecting to communities and to self-sufficiency,” Kennedy said.
“Addiction is about isolation,” said Kennedy, who has been open about his own heroin addiction and recovery. “It’s a disease of isolation. Addicts end up alone. They end their relationships, they lose their jobs. They end up in rooms or jails or institutions or dead. And the ultimate solution to that is reconnecting people to community.
“We need to not just treat the addict and then put him back into the environment that was making him sick, or contributing … to [their] illness,” Kennedy said. “We need to give [them] some stability.”
He added that the Trump administration would be increasing partnerships with faith-based recovery organizations to that end, making them eligible for addiction-related grants.
“This is a chronic disease, it’s a physical disease, it’s a mental disease, it’s an emotional disease, but above all, it’s a spiritual disease, and we need to recognize that, and faith-based organizations play a critical role, and again, helping people re-establish their connections to community,” said Kennedy.
