WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $44.3 million in supplemental funding to expand treatment infrastructure and recovery housing, advancing a Trump administration shift in federal homelessness policy toward treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency.
Of the total, $42.3 million will flow to states and territories through two federal behavioral-health block grants, while another $2 million will support the national office and 10 regional centers of the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network.
The funding supports implementation of SAMHSA’s Treatment First model and President Donald Trump’s July 2025 executive order, which directed federal agencies to prioritize treatment and recovery in homelessness programs and called for ending federal support for Housing First policies that the administration says insufficiently emphasize treatment and self-sufficiency.
The policy represents a change in federal homelessness strategy. The executive order also directs agencies to encourage civil commitment in certain circumstances involving people with serious mental illness and to consider grant preferences for jurisdictions enforcing prohibitions on open drug use and urban camping, among other provisions.
SAMHSA awarded $17.3 million through the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant. The money is intended for technical assistance, training, policy development, workforce capacity, and coordination among agencies rather than the direct provision of treatment.
Another $25 million will go to recipients of the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant to expand licensed, certified or chartered sober and recovery housing. The funding can support training and technical assistance intended to increase the supply of recovery residences and strengthen quality and accountability standards.
“Treatment First means building a system that does not leave people cycling between homelessness, emergency rooms, and the criminal justice system,” SAMHSA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Christopher Carroll said.
Pennsylvania was awarded $684,172 through the mental health block grant supplement and $919,671 through the substance-use block grant supplement, for a combined $1.6 million. Delaware received $52,593 and $67,831, respectively, totaling $120,424.
States and territories may use the funding to strengthen coordination among behavioral health providers, healthcare systems, housing programs, courts, law enforcement, homelessness services and community organizations. SAMHSA said the objective is to move people from crisis and stabilization into treatment, recovery, housing and employment.
The additional $2 million for the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network will support workforce training, licensing and certification assistance and tools for measuring outcomes. Each of the 10 regional centers and the network’s national coordinating office received $181,818.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the funding is intended to move people “from crisis into treatment and from treatment into lasting recovery, stable housing, and work.”
People experiencing a mental health or substance-use crisis can call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org. Treatment providers can be located through FindTreatment.gov.
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