This Learning Series Recap summarizes lessons from state and local government leaders on how the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) can be used to improve supports for behavioral health and housing. The insights come from a learning session on Behavioral Health and Housing, hosted and facilitated by the Government Performance Lab (GPL) as part of its Stimulus Learning Series.
Using ARPA funds to transform behavioral health and housing supports
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated our nation’s behavioral health and housing crises; communities across the country are experiencing greater housing insecurity, worsening mental health outcomes, spiking overdose fatalities, and new barriers to in-person treatment. State and local government partners have told the GPL about how existing behavioral health and housing systems face major challenges to supporting vulnerable populations, including:
- Inaccessible supports: Unevenly distributed and siloed resources can be difficult to access and navigate, especially for poor, rural, and/or BIPOC Help is often not delivered in the mode that is most accessible or appropriate.
- Narrow, reactive help: Poorly equipped systems emphasize remediation rather than prevention and are not responsive to changes in life circumstances or cultural
- Stretched infrastructure: Systems focus on immediate crises rather than addressing longer- term underlying needs, and workforce gaps lead to long waitlists for
Leaders from state and local government agencies shared how they are planning to tackle these challenges using stimulus funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). ARPA funds provide a unique opportunity to reshape behavioral health and housing support by expanding accessibility, increasing service effectiveness, and strengthening the housing and behavioral health ecosystem.
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Stimulus Learning Session: Using ARPA Funds to Redesign Benefits and Advance Economic Mobility
