Kennedy unveils $708.7 million plan to tackle addiction and homelessness
Eight communities will split the new STREETS money, while the rest of the $708.7 million package is spread across crisis lines, clinics and behavioral health services.
The federal government is trying to tie addiction treatment, homelessness services and public safety into one financing push, but the real test is whether the money builds lasting local capacity or simply repackages familiar promises. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced $708.7 million in new behavioral health funding at the Easterseals MORC Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic in Clinton Township, Michigan, with $96 million reserved for a new street-level intervention program and $612 million for other grants.
The centerpiece is STREETS, short for Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Support. Housed within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the $96 million program will fund eight communities and provide as much as $3 million a year for four years to each one. HHS said the program is meant for people who are homeless and also dealing with substance-use disorders, serious mental illness or both, and it is designed to link street-based outreach with treatment, recovery support, stable housing, psychiatric care, medical stabilization and crisis intervention.
The department said STREETS will pull together local governments, health providers, housing providers, law enforcement and courts, a sign that the administration wants one coordinated system rather than separate spending streams. That structure also raises the accountability question at the heart of the announcement: who will control the grants on the ground, and how quickly can communities convert federal money into fewer emergency-room visits, fewer jail stays and fewer people cycling back to shelters?
Beyond STREETS, the funding package spreads across several established behavioral health channels. HHS listed $223.1 million for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, $238.6 million for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, $160 million for Children and Families Behavioral Health Services, $80 million for substance-use prevention and treatment, $40 million for behavioral health workforce education and training, $20 million for youth suicide prevention and $15 million for a faith-based grant initiative. The scale suggests the administration is betting on a broad behavioral health network, not a single homelessness program.
The announcement also fits into a larger White House strategy. Donald J. Trump’s Great American Recovery Initiative was created by executive order in January 2026, and a July 2025 order on Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets directed agencies to deprioritize Housing First approaches to the extent allowed by law. That has already drawn concern from The Alliance for Rights and Recovery, which welcomed community-based funding but warned that the new program appears to reject Housing First and could narrow the range of housing and treatment tools available to communities.
Kennedy’s choice of a clinic in Clinton Township gave the announcement a practical backdrop. Easterseals MORC has expanded behavioral health urgent care in Southfield and Center Line, and HHS said the organization is one of only a handful of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics in Michigan. The question now is whether the new funding can turn that kind of model into a wider network, or whether it becomes another federal initiative that is large on paper and uneven in local impact.
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