San Diego County is getting ready to seek its share of the $6.38 billion in bonds that voters approved when they narrowly passed Proposition 1 in March. However, the project thought to have the biggest potential impact on the region’s mental health care crisis does not yet fit the requirements to file an application.
Luke Bergmann, director of behavioral health for San Diego County, updated county supervisors at their meeting Tuesday, highlighting three projects that his department plans to submit for the first round of Prop. 1 competitive funding. Two already meet submission criteria: a 72- to 96-bed substance use and residential treatment project in South County estimated to cost $26.8 million, and a 16-bed “crisis residential care facility” in the north central part of the county estimated to cost between $6 million and $10 million.
However, a third, the development of a county-owned parcel on Third Avenue in Hillcrest, land once slated to become a hub for several types of mental health care services, does not meet the state’s requirements which, Bergmann explained. That’s because Prop. 1 application rules do not allow board-and-care projects, the use that county plans say would be most beneficial at Third Avenue.
Extensive analysis of bottlenecks in the region’s mental health care system have called out a large and urgent need for more board-and-care beds, which often fill a critical role in providing a safe place for residents to live after they receive mental health care treatment, often in locked units. Having too few of these beds causes too many people to spend too long in mental health hospital beds, tying up treatment slots much longer than is necessary.
The county’s vision for its Third Avenue parcel is 148 board-and-care beds to be used by adults with serious mental illnesses. The project is estimated to cost $55 million to $65 million. Efforts are underway, the executive said, to convince the state that board and care should be among the project types that Prop. 1 considers for funding.
“If the efforts are successful, we’re poised to submit,” Bergmann said.
The deadline for the first round of applications is this fall with a second round expected in 2025.
Prop. 1 allocates about $2 billion in bond funds to build permanent supportive housing across the state. The requirements to apply for this money have not yet been published, but Bergmann said that five “surplus” county-owned properties, whose locations were not specified during Tuesday’s meeting, have already been identified as potential locations for Prop. 1-funded projects, some of which would be designed to serve veterans.
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