City may help Travis County with mental illness and substance use disorder pilot

The Travis County Commissioners Court approved a resolution last month to create a diversion center for people with substance abuse disorders and other mental health issues, who would otherwise end up in the county jail. On Thursday, City Council approved a resolution directing the city manager to look into “the feasibility of an interlocal agreement” with Travis County to develop a pilot program for such a project and identify funding for it.

There was no dissent from Council, although Council Member Mackenzie Kelly lost her bid to add an amendment to the directive. That amendment, which garnered no support from other Council members, was an attempt to get additional details about such a program, including specifying the target population and the resources needed to implement it. But those issues are likely to be front and center before Council makes any final decisions about helping to fund the project.

The resolution’s lead sponsor was Council Member Zo Qadri. His co-sponsors were Council members Vanessa Fuentes, Chito Vela, Ryan Alter and Leslie Pool.

Andi Brauer, the mission coordinator at Central Presbyterian Church, was among those supporting the idea of creating a diversion center for people with mental illness. She said her church serves about 75 people experiencing homelessness every week.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that 20 to 25 percent of the homeless population in the United States is seriously mentally ill, Brauer said. “So that would be about a thousand (homeless) people in Travis County that have severe mental illness …. So, not only is there a need for this pilot, but there’s obviously a need to go beyond that and dedicate even more resources to this,” she said.

Another supporter addressing Council on Thursday was Bill Brice of the Downtown Austin Alliance. He estimated that 40 percent of Travis County Jail inmates have some kind mental health problem. Unfortunately, he said, the jail is Travis County’s largest mental health provider. Brice said many inmates released from jail commit new offenses and return to the jail. He made his comments when addressing the idea of expanding services at the Austin-Travis County Sobering Center. Brice concluded that creating a mental health diversion center would be good not only for those being directly served, but also for public safety across the city.

On Tuesday, interim City Manager Jesús Garza reminded Council that the city dedicated part of its tax revenue when it agreed to help create Central Health in 2004. The question of who pays for mental health services, as well as adding health services for the indigent, is still an important one. Garza urged the representative of the sobering center to speak to the chief executive of Central Health in order to identify more funding.

After Thursday’s meeting, Vela, who is a newly appointed member of the sobering center’s board of directors, referred to Garza’s comments when asked whether Central Health should pay for such services.

“Sometimes it’s great to have folks who have been around for longer than I have,” he said. Garza’s comments “were very informed, when (he) said we were supposed to shift all of these costs over to Central Health. We need to look at this and partner with everybody … county, city, Central Health, and see how we’re going to tackle this – and who’s going to pay for it. That said, I think the concept of a diversion center for those with substance abuse and mental health is absolutely critical.”

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