Rfk Jr Announces $100m In Grants To Address Homelessness And Substance Use

Robert F Kennedy Jr announced connected Monday $100m successful caller grants for a aviator programme aimed astatine addressing homelessness and constituent usage betterment successful 8 cities, building connected an executive order Donald Trump signed past week related to addiction.

The costs will beryllium distributed arsenic portion of nan Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Supports (Streets) program, which will beryllium managed by nan Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Samhsa) wrong nan Department of Health and Human Services.

Last month, nan Trump administration abruptly canceled $2bn successful Samhsa assistance backing for addiction and intelligence wellness programs. Following a bipartisan backlash successful Congress, nan costs were reinstated wrong 24 hours. And complete nan past year, astir a 3rd of Samhsa’s 900 labor person been laid off, creating an situation of uncertainty, fearfulness and logistical challenges for intelligence wellness and constituent maltreatment curen providers astir nan country.

Kennedy announced nan caller programme astatine a Samhsa arena marking “Prevention Day.” During his speech, he said backing for homelessness and addiction curen must beryllium aligned successful bid to reside nan setbacks that forestall semipermanent recovery.

The existent system, Kennedy said, encourages group pinch terrible intelligence unwellness and addiction to “cycle endlessly betwixt sidewalks, emergency room visits, jails, and intelligence hospitals and shelters”.

“No 1 took work for nan full person. No 1 stayed agelong capable to thief them recover, to thief them reestablish their links and thatch them nan lessons of really to unrecorded successful a community,” Kennedy said. “That strategy is neither humane nor effective.”

The programme will beryllium aimed astatine early involution and build integrated attraction systems for group experiencing homelessness, constituent maltreatment and intelligence wellness challenges successful 8 circumstantial communities, and thief them find sober lodging arsenic good arsenic employment, nan wellness caput said.

“We find them connected nan street, we move them from situation to detox curen to lodging to employment, and yet to connecting, reconnecting to communities and to self-sufficiency,” Kennedy said.

“Addiction is astir isolation,” said Kennedy, who has been unfastened astir his ain heroin addiction and recovery. “It’s a illness of isolation. Addicts extremity up alone. They extremity their relationships, they suffer their jobs. They extremity up successful rooms aliases jails aliases institutions aliases dead. And nan eventual solution to that is reconnecting group to community.”

“We request to not conscionable dainty nan addict and past put him backmost into nan situation that was making him sick, aliases contributing … to [their] illness,” Kennedy said. “We request to springiness [them] immoderate stability.”

He added that nan Trump administration would beryllium expanding partnerships pinch faith-based betterment organizations to that end, making them eligible for addiction-related grants.

“This is simply a chronic disease, it’s a beingness disease, it’s a intelligence disease, it’s an affectional disease, but supra all, it’s a belief disease, and we request to admit that, and faith-based organizations play a captious role, and again, helping group reestablish their connections to community,” said Kennedy.