13-05-2025
Lurie secures grant funding to expand mental health, addiction treatment
The Brief
Mayor Daniel Lurie has secured millions of dollars to expand San Francisco's behavioral health programs.
The money will add 73 new treatment beds to two facilities that treat behavioral and mental health, as well as addiction issues.
The expansion is another step in Lurie's "Break the Cycle" plan to address homelessness and addiction.
SAN FRANCISCO - Mayor Daniel Lurie today announced a plan to expand San Francisco's behavioral health resources thanks to $27.6 million in state funding.
The money will allow Lurie to further deliver on his "Breaking the Cycle" plan to transform San Francisco's response to behavioral health and the needs of its unhoused residents.
"Under our Breaking the Cycle Plan, my administration is taking full advantage of every available resource to get people who are suffering off the streets, while reclaiming our public spaces," Lurie said in a press release. " This state is funding a strong first step that will allow us to add some of the beds and services our city needs most — including an expansion of locked subacute treatment for those with complex behavioral health needs. This s how we build a stronger behavioral health system, keep neighborhoods safe and clean, and help people find lasting stability."
Dig deeper
The money, provided by the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program, will go toward two projects: locked subacute treatment beds, and dual diagnosis treatment beds.
Just over $21 million will go toward expanding capacity at the Behavioral Health Center on the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Campus by adding 57 treatment beds. Locked subacute treatment beds, also called mental health rehabilitation centers, offer 24/7 intensive psychiatric care, nursing care and psychosocial rehabilitation services to adults with severe mental illnesses, or those placed under conservatorship.
Locked treatment facilities require high building standards, which makes constructing new facilities difficult. The San Francisco General Hospital Behavioral Health Center was built as a locked treatment facility, and the BHCIP funding will complete critical renovations that will expand its capacity.
The remaining $6 million will reopen the 7th Street Dual Diagnosis residential treatment program, which has 16 beds to serve individuals with both mental health and substance abuse disorders. That facility was previously operated as a behavioral health dual diagnosis program but was acquired by the city in 2024 as part of the debt settlement with the prior provider.
"To truly address our behavioral health crisis and provide every individual with a real chance at a healthier, more stable future, we must have the beds and the services at the right levels of care," Daniel Tsai, the director of the department of public health said in a press release. "Here in San Francisco we are taking necessary and bold steps to build a more responsive behavioral health system, and we thank the state for recognizing that the scale of this crisis requires more than local action. The capital funding from the state is essential to our ability to expand local treatment capacity for our most behaviorally complex clients."
The backstory
Lurie in March announced his "Breaking the Cycle" plan, so named because it aims to break the cycles of homelessness and addiction by "fundamentally transforming" the city's health and homelessness response.
Within the first 100 days of enacting the plan, Lurie said his administration will streamline moving people from the street into shelters and permanent housing, including launching a new model for outreach teams and reforming how people move through the city's system.
While the plan calls for getting people off the streets and connected with the services they need, Lurie said it will also "Keep our public spaces safe and clean... and hold city hall and our partners accountable for results."
Within six months, Lurie said he plans to add more beds in shelters and partner with nonprofits to improve services. Within a year, he said, he plans to leverage state and federal funds to expand and improve health and homelessness services, reform the city's data and technology systems and review the organizational structure of the city's health, homelessness, human services and housing programs.
What they're saying
Advocates say his plan, rather than breaking the cycle, perpetuates a very familiar one.
Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness said Lurie's approach uses the same methods as his predecessors. She said his office would be better served by following evidence-based methods to address homelessness and mental health issues.
