Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday signed new legislation (S.4937C/A.6262B) to create more flexible rules for converting underutilized hotel space into permanent housing. Governor Hochul signed the bills with Senator Brian Kavanagh, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and housing and labor advocates.

"As New York's housing crisis continues to impact families, we're taking bold action, embracing innovative ideas and thinking outside the box to help ensure that New Yorkers can access safe, livable, and quality affordable housing," Governor Hochul said. "This new law allows us to tackle the affordability crisis head-on and convert empty, underutilized spaces into homes. I thank Assembly Member Cymbrowitz and Senator Kavanagh for sponsoring this bill and taking this step to ensure that New Yorkers have a place to call home." Read more here.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), announced nearly $15 million in funding for rural communities to address psychostimulant misuse and related overdose deaths. Psychostimulants include methamphetamine and other illegal drugs, such as cocaine and ecstasy, as well as prescription stimulants for conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or depression. Today’s funding helps support the President’s National Drug Control Strategy and deliver on his Unity Agenda priority of beating the overdose epidemic. Read more here.

The state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities has released a draft plan of improvement to take place during the next five years, including how it intends to spend more than $1.5 billion in federal aid. The funds, from the American Rescue Plan, will go toward recruiting and retaining more direct-support professionals—the employees who work directly with people with disabilities receiving OPWDD services—according to the 5.07 strategic plan released at the end of May. Read more here.

The first meeting of the New York State Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board will be held in Albany. The Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board was established to provide recommendations on how funding received by the Opioid Settlement Fund could be allocated. The meeting will take place at Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY on June 14, 2022 between 10:30 am - 3:30 pm. For more information and the link to watch online visit here.

Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday announced $4.5 million in funding for 10 organizations to establish substance use and prevention coalitions in New York State. Providers receiving funding will focus on the priority populations, including three providers that will have a special focus on the LGBTQIA+ community. A further $1.8 million is also being made available to establish additional coalitions in the New York City region. Read more here.

Longtime WETA production partner Ken Burns is the executive producer of a major new public television documentary, Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness. The film, premiering in June 2022, gives voice to the experiences of young people who struggle with mental health challenges and focuses on the importance of awareness and empathy. The documentary will shine a clear —and sometimes stark —light on what it is like for youth as well as for the parents, teachers, friends and healthcare providers who try to help. Premieres June 27 & 28 9/8c on PBS.

Governor Kathy Hochul on June 2 announced the release of an Integrated Supportive Housing Application available to qualifying service providers and housing developers. The 2022 funding opportunity, to be administered by the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, will award $15 million in capital funding to expand access to affordable, accessible, non-certified supportive housing options for people with developmental disabilities. Read more here.

Despite an overall drop in opioid prescribing over the past decade, opioid-related overdose deaths have continued to rise. At the same time, some data show opioid use disorder diagnoses have spiked at a much higher rate than the use of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Only 11% of people with opioid use disorder receive medications, and women and Black and Hispanic people have disproportionately lower access.

Experts argue these trends show decreasing prescriptions of opioids is not enough to end the epidemic. Rather, they call on a cross-industry effort, taking a long-term view of prevention and widening access to treatment. Many barriers to getting there remain. Read more here.

On June 3, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is notifying states that they now have an additional year — through March 31, 2025 — to use funding made available by the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to enhance, expand, and strengthen home- and community-based services (HCBS) for people with Medicaid who need long-term services and supports. This policy update marks the latest action by the Biden-Harris Administration to strengthen the health care workforce, help people receive care in the setting of their choice, and reduce unnecessary reliance on institutional care. Read more here.

An audit that sampled 20 school districts found they did not provide mental health training to all staff for the 2020-21 school year by Sept. 15, as required by New York State Education Department (SED) regulations, according to a new report issued by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Eighteen of 20 districts (90%) either did not offer mental health training or provided training that lacked some or all the recommended components, including how to access crisis support and recognizing warning signs such as obsessive compulsive, psychotic, and eating disorders. Read more here.

In a recent study published by the national education center, 70 percent of public school administrators surveyed reported an increase in the percentage of their students seeking mental health services. A little more than three-quarters of educators (76 percent) reported noticing an increase in the number of their students exhibiting symptoms such as depression, anxiety and trauma. Read more here.

Additional article of interest: A Mental Health Clinic in School? No, Thanks, Says the School Board

The NYS Office of Mental Health (OMH) has awarded the Mental Health Association in New York State (MHANYS) $1 million to facilitate Youth Mental Health First Aid training to adults who regularly interact with young people, including healthcare providers, teachers, clergy, parents, first responders and other groups. Read more here.

Additional article of interest: Office of Mental Health Announces $105,000 in Funding Awards for Stigma Reduction Projects

Over the past several years, mental health and substance use challenges among Americans have increased in prevalence and severity. Rates were already on the rise before the pandemic, but the toll of COVID-19 on youth and adults has been significant. As physician leaders across the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — the federal agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance Marketplaces, programs through which more than 150 million Americans obtain health coverage – we are focused on supporting President Joe Biden’s Strategy to Address Our National Mental Health Crisis by ensuring our beneficiaries have access to equitable, high-quality health care services.

Read more here.

Additional articles of interest: The CMS National Quality Strategy: A Person-Centered Approach to Improving Quality

A survey of a large group of public health officials responsible for helping to roll out the nation's new 988 emergency mental health telephone service found that fewer than half expressed confidence their jurisdiction was prepared in terms of financing, staffing, or infrastructure, according to a new RAND Corporation publication. The analysis, the first effort to gauge national preparedness for the new mental health service debuting in July, interviewed 180 state, regional, and county behavioral health program directors who provide jurisdictional coverage for more than 120 million Americans—roughly one-third of the United States. Read more here.

The National Council for Mental Wellbeing and the National Association of Counties (NACo) last Wednesday announced a new partnership to make Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training available to county employees across the country. MHFA at Work is a skills-based training that teaches participants to identify, understand, and respond to mental health and substance use challenges their colleagues and others may be facing. Read more here.

Local hospitals and health systems are launching and expanding their own violence intervention programs, leveraging their role as trauma responders to not only heal gunshot wounds but use public health measures to prevent them in the first place. Public health research into gun violence has historically been limited, due to a move by Congress in the 1990s that restricted federal agencies from using funding for injury prevention and control to advocate or promote gun control. But hospitals and health systems are fighting back with efforts to reframe gun violence as a public health issue, pointing to a recent spate of mass shootings across the U.S. and new federal data that found guns were the leading cause of death in 2020 for children between the ages of 1 and 19. Read more here.

June 9, 2 - 3 pm, Housing & Services Resource Center

June 9, 2 - 3 pm, NIEHS

June 10, 11 am - 4 pm, NASEM

June 10, 2 - 3 pm, CCHP

June 13, 1 - 2 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

June 13, 3 - 4 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

June 14, 12 - 1 pm, PsychU

June 14, 1:30 - 2:30 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

June 14, 2 - 3 pm, Camden Coalition

June 15, 2 -3 pm, OMH

June 15, 3 - 4 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

June 16, 12:30 - 2 pm, Center for Health Care Strategies

June 16, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

June 20, 9:30 am - 1 pm, Public Policy Exchange

June 21, 12 - 1 pm, United Hospital Fund

June 21, 3 - 4:30 pm, HRSA

June 22, 12 - 2 pm, CMS

June 23, 1 - 2:30 pm, CMS

June 23, 2 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

June 23, 3 - 4 pm, Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts

June 24, 2 - 3 pm, CCHP

June 27, 1:30 - 2:30 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

June 27, 3 - 4:30 pm, SAMHSA's GAINS Center

June 30, 1:30 - 3 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

July 7, 1:30 - 2:30 pm, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

June 9: 3 - 4 pm

June 14: 10 - 11:30 am

June 16: 1 - 3 pm

June 20

June 21: 11:30 am - 1 pm

July 4

July 6: 9 - 10:30 am

July 7: 2 - 3 pm

July 11: 9:30 - 11:30 am

July 12: 9:30 - 11:30 am

July 13: 9:30 - 11:30 am

July 14: 11 am - 12 pm

July 14: 3 - 4 pm

July 18: 10 - 11:30 am

July 19: 11:30 am - 1 pm