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ALBANY, N.Y.—New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would add 1,000 hospital beds for psychiatric patients as part of a planned $1 billion increase in mental–health funding, state officials said Tuesday.
The new funding would pay for 3,500 housing units for people with mental illnesses who are at risk of becoming homeless. This will include 500 single rooms for individuals who need intensive services, such as drug treatment. The new spending would also provide for 1,500 supportive housing units, to be completed over five years, for seriously ill people.
The state already planned to spend about $5.5 billion on mental hygiene through several agencies in the fiscal year that begins April 1, according to its most recent fiscal plan. The additional funding increase would be phased in over multiple years, a representative for the governor said.
The investments would complement plans by New York City Mayor
Eric Adams
to reduce homelessness by moving individuals from the street into institutional settings. The Democratic mayor last year announced a plan that would lead to more involuntary commitment of individuals who are found to be unable to care for themselves.
The Democratic governor was set to include details on the proposal as part of her annual State of the State address Tuesday. Ms. Hochul—who was elected to a full term last year—is also expected to propose more residential housing across the state and detail her plans to increase public safety.
“We have underinvested in mental health care for so long, and allowed the situation to become so dire, that it has become a public safety crisis, as well,” she said in a statement ahead of her address.
Harvey Rosenthal
of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, a patient advocacy group, praised the investment—particularly in supportive housing.
“While more beds may get some people off the streets for a few days or even weeks, beds alone will not substantially improve people’s health and lives, nor help them break the cycle of repeat relapses and readmission, unless we move away from the failed discharge policies of the past,” he said.
Ms. Hochul hopes to quickly increase the number of inpatient psychiatric beds by forcing private hospitals to reactivate capacity that has been shut down because of staff issues. The state has 7,471 psychiatric beds now—a 20% decrease from 2014 levels. If hospitals don’t redirect staff to bring beds online, they could face fines of $2,000 per bed, per day, state officials said.
A spokesman for the Greater New York Hospital Association, a trade group, said it hoped to work with the state. An important variable in meeting the state’s goal is the ongoing nurses strike affecting the Mount Sinai and Montefiore health systems, the spokesman said.
Write to Jimmy Vielkind at jimmy.vielkind@wsj.com
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