NYC Progressive Caucus

Crisis to Care

The Progressive Caucus's 2025 Budget Campaign

Campaign Overview
Supporters
FAQ

Crisis to Care is the Progressive Caucus’s 2025 (FY26) budget campaign calling for $61 million in investments to tackle the dual mental and public health crises that have long gone unaddressed in New York City.

Our Crisis to Care plan sets out with a simple premise: to ensure our city fully funds services for people who need care and provides dignified conditions for the workers who deliver that critical support. We view the plan as the first leg of a multi-year, public safety campaign to invest in frontline workers and everyday New Yorkers, to lean into evidence-based solutions that follow best medical practices, and to build up our city’s comprehensive mental health network.

We break this funding down into two buckets, and include a third that outlines actions our caucus commits to taking.

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Building up our mental health network

Building up our mental health network ($55.1M) refers to a collection of interconnected services that provide ongoing care and support for individuals with mental health issues, substance use disorder and those suffering with either issue within the criminal justice system. The collective goal of this two-part bucket is as follows: eliminate the waitlists for critical services and build up the network’s physical infrastructure. The plan aims to:

Eliminate waitlists for critical mental health and survivor services:

  • $22M in baselined funds to create additional Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) teams on DOHMH’s mental health waitlist. It’s currently stagnant in funding at $42 million with a long waitlist. This would bring the total to $64M.
  • $7M in baselined funding to create additional Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) teams on the DOHMH’s waitlist. This would bring the total to $21M.
  • $6.3M in funds for the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV).
    • $4.8M to bring microgrant funding up from $1.2M to $6M.
    • $1.5M for Home+ provider needs.

Expand access to respite centers and supportive housing programs:

  • $4.8M more in annual funding for Justice Involved Supportive Housing to be delivered through a reissued RFP for 380 new units with service funding levels in line with those for other higher need groups like 15/15 Young Adult Supportive Housing.
  • $6M in funding for 4 new respite centers to comply with Local Law 118, with $12M baselined for out year projected costs.
  • $9M in baselined funds for expanded mobile syringe services programs in addition to opioid settlement dollar allocations announced in January 2025. This ask calls for additional city funds to expand peer support team capacity for increased mobile teams to serve neighborhoods currently without coverage.
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Better Conditions for our Crisis Response Workforce

Scaling better conditions for a more holistic crisis response workforce ($5.5M) refers to the makeup of our crisis response and mental health workforce and their working conditions. We view peer specialists as critical to meeting needs and want to see them deployed for mental health response teams across the city’s mental health network. In addition, the goal here is to win better conditions for frontline staff in our crisis and mental health response systems. The plan calls for:

  • $4.5M in baselined funds for 60 additional staff lines for well-paid Peer Specialists to staff the city’s multi-agency mental health and crisis response teams.
  • $1M in baselined funds for the creation of a pilot EMS Wellness & Peer Support Program, which would include: a crisis hotline, dedicated social workers, EMS peer support staff, and monthly debriefing & support groups.
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Other Actions

In addition to budget line items, Crisis to Care uplifts union campaigns within the public safety systems at the city level. It also calls for the creation of a Crisis Response Roundtable to map out the current state of the city’s crisis response infrastructure and lay the groundwork for meaningful reforms and investments in the years ahead. The Plan’s action items call for:

  • The creation of a monthly Crisis Response Roundtable within the New York City Council.
  • The amplification of UAW Local 2325’s pay and benefit contract demands.
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