NYC Council Calls for Funding Restorations and Investments in Mental, Maternal, and Physical Health Programs ahead of Budget Hearings

 

Mayor’s FY25 Executive Budget failed to include funding for key hospital, mental health and maternal health services 

Ahead of the City Council’s Executive Budget hearings by the Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities and Addiction, Committee on Health, and Committee on Hospitals, with the Committee on Finance, the Council called for funding restorations and deeper investments to mental health programs and healthcare provided through the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and New York City Health + Hospitals (H+H).  

Specifically, the Council urged funding for solutions that would help the City address mental health challenges, reduce recidivism, and deliver essential health services that were left out of the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget. 

The omitted budget priorities were outlined by the Council in its Preliminary Budget Response released in April. They include: 

Mental Health Courts and Diversion Programs 

•   Mental health courts and their associated programs help facilitate appropriate mental health responses and reduce the likelihood of rearrest by diverting people into treatment with increased coordination of care to address underlying issues. These programs have lacked the capacity to fulfill the level of need, are too often unavailable, and can have average wait times of months for appropriate placement because of insufficient investments to operate at scale. The Council called upon the Administration to provide an additional $8.9 million for baseline funding for mental health courts that connect people to appropriate interventions: $4.7 million in additional resources for the Manhattan Mental Health Court and the Judicial Diversion Court’s Mental Health Track, and $4.2 million for alternative-to-incarceration programs (ATIs) and problem-solving courts. 

15/15 Supportive Housing and Justice-Involved Supportive Housing 

•   Supportive housing remains one of the most effective methods to address issues of mental health and homelessness by providing housing stability to individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness with other challenges or involvement in the justice system. The Council called on the Administration to allocate $19.6 million to progress the 15/15 Supportive Housing program and $6.4 million for Justice Involved Supportive Housing (JISH) to ensure 500 supportive housing units are brought online for New Yorkers to successfully transition back into their communities. 

Alternatives to Incarceration, Supervised Release and Re-entry Programming 

•   For years, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice has managed Alternatives to Incarceration, supervised release, and re-entry programming to reduce incarceration and recidivism. As part of the Mayor’s Program to Eliminate the Gap, these programs took a nearly $28 million cut and were only partially restored in the Executive Budget. 

Trauma Recovery Centers 

•   Over the past two fiscal years, the Council has allocated nearly $5 million to establish New York State’s first trauma recovery centers (TRCs) in Brooklyn (2) and the Bronx (1). TRCs are designed to reach survivors of violent crime who lack access to traditional victim services and are less likely to engage in mainstream mental health or social services. They provide wraparound services and coordinated care, including mental health, physical health, and legal services, by utilizing multi-disciplinary staff that can include psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and outreach workers focused on providing survivor-centered healing and removing barriers to care. The Council called for $7.2 million in baselined funding to permanently sustain the existing TRCs and create one new center in both Queens and Staten Island in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget. 

Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) teams 

•   The Council called for an additional $7 million investment to expand the City’s FACT teams, which are specialized units composed of behavioral health specialists, clinicians, case management experts to provide care and wraparound services for individuals with serious mental illnesses (SMIs) outside of traditional clinical settings.  They provide targeted support to people who have not been effectively served by traditional services and have cycled through the justice system without successful interventions to address their underlying challenges. 

Maternal Health Psychologists in Public Hospitals 

•   The Council has called for the baselined funding of $5 million to provide at least one maternal health-focused psychologist within each New York City Health + Hospitals maternity department. Mental health care that supports emotional wellness for mothers during and after pregnancy is critical to achieving positive maternal and family health outcomes, but is often left unaddressed. In Speaker Adams’ State of the City address, she called for this funding to ensure a maternal health psychologist is available in every public hospital to provide appropriate care. Funding these positions would advance post-partum care and improve maternal and mental health outcomes for mothers throughout the city.  

Nurse Family Partnership   

•   The Council has called for an additional $5 million to expand and enhance the Nurse Family Partnership program that provides critical education and support services to low-income first-time parents during and after pregnancy about appropriate care. Families receive nurse home-visits and are connected with resources, such as health insurance and childcare services, to ensure their success. 

Maternal and Child Health Services    

•   The Council has called for $500,000 in additional funding for Maternal and Child Health Services, which can help to reduce infant mortality rates and improve health outcomes for both mothers and children.  

Cancer Screenings    

•   The Council has called for $3 million in baselined funding for the City to implement a Cancer Screening Day to provide free screenings for New Yorkers each year. During the height of COVID, many people did not get vital screenings for various types of cancer, such as breast and prostate cancer. As part of HealthyNYC, which has a goal of reducing screenable cancer (including lung, breast, colon, cervical, and prostate cancer) by 20 percent by the year 2030, the City should provide free prostate and breast cancer screenings citywide on a designated day.  

Diabetes Management and Glucometer Pilot Program 

•   The Council has called for the City to allocate $1 million to establish a pilot program in each borough that provides people with glucometers to test their blood sugar. The cost of vital diabetes management products, such as glucometers that can cost between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, has negatively impacted the health of many New Yorkers.  

HealthyNYC Learning Collaboratives   

•   The Council calls for $500,000 in new funding for HealthyNYC to establish Learning Collaboratives with diverse stakeholders to track each of the City’s seven mortality drivers and the strategies that impact them. The 7 primary drivers of high mortality rates: diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, cancers, drug overdose, suicide, maternal mortality, COVID-19, and violence. HealthyNYC is the City’s vision for how to improve life expectancy and create a healthier city for all.  

Women’s Concussion Clinic   

•   The Council has called for $300,000 in new city budget funding for a trauma-informed Women’s Concussion Clinic pilot program within the NYC Health & Hospitals network to provide mental health care for patients receiving treatment for concussions. Concussion care should also focus on patients’ mental health, in addition to neurological injuries, to address the full extent of injuries. Many concussion patients who are domestic violence survivors do not receive the trauma-informed care they need, and this pilot could begin helping to close that gap through collaboration between DOHMH and H+H in providing holistic care.