Commemorating Mental Health Awareness Month, Governor Gavin Newsom announced new infrastructure projects to strengthen the state’s behavioral health system.
The new mental health projects aim to create more treatment and support services and expand the state’s existing behavioral health treatment capacity, crisis, and residential services, Governor Newsom announced on May 5, 2026.
“These projects — large and small, urban and rural — represent real progress in bringing treatment, crisis care, and recovery services closer to home,” Newsom said.
The governor’s announcement highlights the state’s broader effort to enhance its behavioral health infrastructure through Proposition 1, a voter-approved measure to reform and expand treatment options for people suffering from severe mental illnesses, substance use disorders, and homelessness.
The CARE Act is helping create a new path—connecting people to care through trust, teamwork & real support.
Across California, this approach is already helping people with severe mental illness move toward stability. Learn more about CARE at https://t.co/6xLNVSCPlO. pic.twitter.com/PCLFAJKEJM
— CA Health & Human Services (@Cal_HHS) May 5, 2026
Proposition 1 Key to Expanding Mental Health System
The new projects are funded by California’s Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) and Bond BHCIP grants, managed by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), according to the governor’s office.
Proposition 1 funds Bond BHCIP awards. Programs such as BHCIP and Bond BHCIP have helped add more residential and crisis treatment centers across the state, Governor Newsom said.
Proposition 1 and BHCIP are part of the broader health strategy, Mental Health for All, which continues to work on investing public funds to strengthen the state’s behavioral health system.
Since 2021, BHCIP and Bond BHCIP have awarded $5.8 billion to expand behavioral health resources and infrastructure in the state, according to the governor’s office. This has led to 437 projects across 546 health facilities, which will create 9,553 new beds and 47,163 new outpatient slots that are expected to serve over 5.4 million individuals every year.
With the help of Bond BHCIP alone, California has delivered a combined 6,919 residential treatment beds and 27,561 outpatient slots. The figures outpace Proposition 1’s goals in just two years and support 177 projects across 333 facilities, the governor said.
Combined, all these efforts are not only helping boost the state’s behavioral health infrastructure, but they also helped achieve a record 9% reduction in unsheltered homelessness in 15 years, according to the governor’s office.
As projects have been advancing from planning to construction, state officials said that California continues to surpass its capacity goals for new residential beds and outpatient treatment slots, while prioritizing investment in tribal, rural, and underserved regions.
Improvements in Strengthening Rural Treatment Centers
- Mendocino County: Redwood Quality Management Company hosted an open house for their new Anchor Rehabilitation Center Project to create a 16-bed rehabilitation center that will include an outpatient facility with 695 treatment slots. The center is expected to serve 172,360 people annually. The project received $4.6 million in funding in BHCIP Round 3.
- Nevada County: Nevada County Behavioral Health and regional partners broke ground on the Rural Counties Psychiatric Health Facility/Mental Health Rehabilitation Center, supported by a $23.7 million Bond BHCIP Round 1 investment.
- San Diego County: Inner‑Tribal Treatment and partners began construction on a 60-bed adult residential substance use disorder facility and community mental health clinic. The project received around $20 million in funding from Bond BHCIP.
Expanding Treatment Centers
- Alameda County: Telecare Corp. broke ground on a new social rehabilitation facility in Oakland, funded through BHCIP Round 3.
- Los Angeles County: Homeboy Industries and community partners broke ground on a residential substance use disorder treatment center, a Bond BHCIP campus model that is supported by $24.9 million.
- Los Angeles County: Rancho San Antonio and partners broke ground on a BHCIP Round 4 project, which will expand outpatient services for children, transitional-age youth, and families, supported by approximately $4.2 million.
- Los Angeles County: Backed by $465 million in Bond BHCIP Round 1 funding, the county broke ground on two mental health centers on the Metropolitan State Hospital campus.
- Madera County: The county and partners broke ground on a new 16-bed crisis stabilization unit and sobering center, supported by approximately $25 million in BHCIP Round 5 funding.
- San Diego County: The county broke ground on a new 12-bed acute psychiatric hospital, supported by $16.76 million in BHCIP Round 5 funds.
As a number of new facilities break ground across rural, urban, and tribal areas throughout the state, the expanding behavioral health network reflects the state’s persistent efforts in making mental health care more community-centered and timely.
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