Q&A
Council member inquires about state laws' impact on crisis response programs
3:50:24
·
3 min
Council Member Linda Lee asks the panel about how different state laws across the country impact mental health crisis response programs like B-HEARD. She expresses interest in learning from other cities' experiences to address challenges in New York City.
- Lee suggests a separate, longer meeting to discuss this topic in depth
- Panel members from Oakland and Denver share insights on how laws and mandates in their states affect their programs
- Discussion touches on topics such as homelessness, community sweeps, and insurance coverage
Linda Lee
3:50:24
you.
3:50:25
I actually had a really quick question for all of you as well.
3:50:27
And I don't know if we're gonna get the answer today, but I guess I guess this goes to just the differences in laws state by state.
3:50:36
Because a lot of the jurisdiction of how mental health services are delivered, it varies state by state.
3:50:43
And so I'm just wondering because I would love to hear from you.
3:50:45
And maybe this is just like a longer separate meeting.
3:50:48
That we should have with you all because I'm curious to know how laws across various states are similar, which are the challenges and which are not as similar, and also how does that impact services like be heard like we're talking about today in coordination with other agencies because, you know, I think that there are definitely lessons that we can learn from other cities for sure, and then maybe perhaps using that to figure out how we work through some of the challenges in a city like New York.
3:51:20
And so I was just wondering if if any of you you were familiar with, you know, how the various different state laws across the country can impact this type of program.
Elliot Jones
3:51:32
I could jump in really quickly.
3:51:34
In California, mandate came out from the governor that there's something had to be done about the homeless and campus that coupled with many cities outside of Oakland.
3:51:44
Trying to throw laws on the books, anti camping laws.
3:51:48
You know, you can't sleep here overnight.
3:51:51
All of this puts pressure on cities to come up with a solution.
3:51:55
And if you're connected on public transit, you know, sometimes you have to be prepared to deal with a bunch of people coming into your border after they've been pushed out of a city.
3:52:03
They may have become unhoused in or or experienced and challenging.
3:52:07
That all being said, even you know, the best laid intentions can sometimes have the worst outcomes.
3:52:14
So as we're doing community sweeps and and and and encampment clearings, we're working closely with other partners in our health and human services department to make these service connections and as people get into housing and supportive housing or other programs, you know, this allows us to focus on who's remaining and and the challenge the specific challenges that they're having.
3:52:35
One core tenant about macro is nothing is forced.
3:52:38
I don't we don't force you to do anything.
3:52:40
It's all voluntary.
3:52:41
So really building up people and getting to them to a place where they're ready to accept services is what has worked for us.
3:52:49
And and you need time for that.
3:52:51
And and sometimes the cities don't give you that, but If you come up with a plan, you stick to the plan, you can get ahead of some of these external forces that may impact your city.
Linda Lee
3:53:02
Great.
3:53:02
Thank you.
3:53:03
Any others?
Sam Rabins
3:53:05
I think just to add to that too, we have partnerships with, like I said, all of our first responders in Denver partnership with Mayor Initiatives and groups that are working towards navigating this new landscape.
3:53:16
And then at Welltower, we also you know, we work with our Star Community Partner Network, which is that group of community organizations to get people after the initial, you know, after we have buy and after that initial crisis response to get people then connected to long term services to help mitigate some of the needs that were expressed.
3:53:33
And then we also have we're also able to accept people with all types of Medicaid and other insurances.
3:53:39
So we work with that insurance group as well to make sure that care is being able to be accessed by individuals in our community.
