Fresno County desperately needs more housing to treat mentally ill people | Opinion

Fresno County has a stark need for housing for mentally ill people. The region also requires more clinicians and aides to treat those patients.

Next month could provide some clarity on the county’s ability to help those suffering from mental illness: The state is about to award more than $4 billion in Proposition 1 funding to counties to pay for treatment beds and permanent supportive housing.

Susan Holt, Fresno County’s director of behavioral health, said her department submitted three applications to the state for funding from Proposition 1. “As is true with the rest of California, what Fresno County residents need most is access to affordable housing,” she wrote in an email. “This is especially true of those in our region with behavioral health needs.

“How the state could help with that is continued and expanded funding for permanent supportive housing as well as expanded definitions and criteria to qualify for permanent supportive housing.”

One of the county’s applications was for a 16-bed facility for adults with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. The facility intended to support implementation of SB 43. The second application is for a residential treatment facility for youth, also at 16 beds.

The third application is for a comprehensive outpatient facility featuring an overnight stay program for adults, said Brian Bishop, a county Behavioral Health spokesman. Altogether, the requests total $67 million.

Qualifying for state funding has been a challenge for Fresno County in the past.

In fact, according to a report by CalMatters, the area of the state with the highest need for funding to address mental health is the southern San Joaquin Valley. Yet the region “didn’t get any state money in previous rounds of funding,” CalMatters noted.

There is a specific reason for that lack of support.

Spreading out mental health funding

State officials in the past have put a funding priority on housing projects that can be launched and finished as fast as possible. “Factors that could influence the level of readiness could include that the applicant has site control for a property, and has all necessary zoning, blueprints/designs, etc. all done,” Holt explained.

“To have a property at a launch-ready stage takes time and resources.”

Bigger counties, such as Los Angeles, have more staff to work on applications.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office found that Los Angeles and Sacramento-region counties “received nearly three-fourths of the funding distributed for acute care beds, roughly $130 million,” CalMatters reported. This despite those regions already having sufficient acute-care programs.

“The fact of the matter, unfortunately, is that there were far more applications submitted for (previous funding with the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program) than there was available funding,” Holt said, adding “we hope that under-served regions, such as the Central Valley, where we have among the greatest needs, will be a factor in future awards.”

At an Assembly Health Committee hearing in early March, Fresno Democratic Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula pointed out a key problem with awarding monies to the same places. In those awards, the state runs the risk of “baking in historical inequities and disparities.”

Securing money for housing

Holt hopes that state officials will give San Joaquin Valley projects better consideration this time around.

“The San Joaquin Valley has been considered a health and mental health shortage area for decades, especially when compared to the Bay Area and the greater L.A. area,” she said. “Those areas of the state have needs too, but they are resourced differently, yet we have seen fewer awards in the SJV area.”

State leaders must prioritize where needs are greatest, just not where projects can be quickly launched.

Here’s hoping Fresno County can secure new funding through Proposition 1 and increase its housing for the treatment of mentally ill people, who desperately need support and stability.

This editorial has been updated from the original posting with information on Fresno County’s funding applications.

This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 5:30 AM.