Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Monday a $100 million pilot program aimed at addressing homelessness and substance abuse in eight U.S. cities.
The initiative, named STREETS for Safety Through Recovery, Engagement and Evidence-Based Treatment and Supports, will focus on building integrated care systems to help individuals find housing, employment, and treatment for mental health and addiction issues.
The announcement builds on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week, launching the Great American Recovery Initiative to align federal resources against the addiction crisis.
Additional measures include making faith-based organizations eligible for addiction-related grants and expanding states’ flexibility to use federal health funding for substance abuse treatment in cases involving children.
Kennedy made the announcement during the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s annual Prevention Day event, according to an Associated Press report.
An HHS spokesperson, Andrew Nixon, stated, “As part of the Great American Recovery announced just last week, HHS is moving forward with new funding, expanded flexibilities, and targeted actions that strengthen the mental health and substance use treatment system and provide greater support for providers on the ground.”
Federal data indicates overdose deaths declined through most of last year, marking an improvement in a long-standing epidemic, though the decline has begun to slow, per the same AP report.
Regina LaBelle, director of the Center on Addiction and Public Policy at Georgetown Law’s O’Neill Institute, noted potential challenges in implementation.
“The devil’s in the details,” LaBelle said in the AP report. She emphasized that the program’s impact depends on selected cities and execution, questioning whether it might divert funds from existing successful efforts to reduce overdose rates.
Later on Monday, Kennedy joined a separate event for the launch of Action for Progress, a bipartisan initiative led by his cousin, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, now a partner at Healthsperien, a national health consultancy.
The coalition aims to address the nation’s mental health and addiction crisis, as described in a C-SPAN event listing.
Participants included Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. Patrick Kennedy, who has publicly discussed his experiences with bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and drug addiction, highlighted the nonpartisan nature of recovery.
“When we go into recovery rooms we don’t think of ourselves as Democrats and Republicans,” Kennedy said in an interview cited by the AP. He added that he has shared policymaking insights on mental health and addiction with his cousin, who has welcomed them.
The initiatives come amid recent changes at SAMHSA, where about a third of its roughly 900 employees have been laid off over the past year, according to the AP report. The agency also faced a brief elimination and restoration of $2 billion in grant funding last month, creating uncertainty for providers. Advocates have expressed concerns about planning stability in this environment.
These steps represent early actions under the Great American Recovery Initiative, with HHS focusing on reform and effective use of resources to support those affected by addiction and related mental health challenges, per Nixon’s statement.