Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Friday that eight communities will receive $96 million under a new federal program that breaks sharply with the “Housing First” orthodoxy that defined homelessness policy for the past decade. Each recipient will get $3 million a year for four years, starting with treatment, not housing placement.
The venue was Open Door in Houston. It started with a shelter and soup kitchen in 1954. Now its description reads: “Christ-centered recovery refuge for men in crisis.” A Christian organization working with homeless men and helping them through addiction.
Kennedy announced the Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Support (STREETS) grants there Friday. In his statement, he said treatment would go directly to people living on the streets. He also drew a sharp contrast with what preceded it:
“STREETS takes treatment directly to Americans living on our streets and connects them to the care and support they need to recover. Under President Trump, we will no longer accept a system that manages human suffering instead of ending it. We are helping people reclaim their health, rebuild their lives, and achieve the dignity, purpose, and independence that come with recovery.”
The money is for homeless people with serious mental illness or substance use disorders. Some have both. Outreach workers will bring care to them. Housing help and support during recovery are part of the program, too. Under “Treatment First,” the work begins with the illness or addiction that also needs attention.
Houston’s Health Department will receive one award. Detroit’s will receive another. Two more go to Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.
Huntington, West Virginia, is on the list, along with Robeson County, North Carolina, and Louisiana’s Tangipahoa Parish. In Ohio, the recipient is Montgomery County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board. No California, Oregon, or Washington community received one of these eight grants.
Police, courts, and first responders have a role here, too. They will work with doctors, housing providers, and recovery programs. The federal goals include fewer returns to homelessness and less use of crisis services. That will take follow-up after the first outreach visit. Getting someone into a shelter still leaves the question of treatment.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) chief of staff, Timothy W. Westlake, said people needing care should not be left to figure out which agency can help them:
“People who are homeless and struggling with serious mental illness or addiction should not have to navigate fragmented systems alone. We are organizing systems around recovery instead of asking people in crisis to organize themselves around systems.”
HHS tied the grants to Trump’s executive order on ending crime and disorder on America’s streets. They also support Great American Recovery, co-chaired by Kennedy and White House addiction recovery adviser Kathryn Burgum.
The eight recipients now have $12 million each to work with over four years. Spending it will be easy enough. Keeping someone in care after that first visit takes work. Kennedy has said managing the suffering is no longer good enough. Taxpayers should hold the grant recipients to it.
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