Bexar County commissioners this week approved the allocation of $22 million federal COVID-19 relief funds for the expansion of the county's dual diagnosis treatment center.
The county's mental health issues and substance abuse problems grew worse during the pandemic, as they did across the rest of the nation.
Some of the $389 million received by the county under the American Rescue Plan Act can be used to address public issues, so the county is doing exactly that.
The funding will be spent on improvements at the county's dual diagnosis treatment center on Applewhite Road on the South Side for those with mental health and substance abuse issues.
About 130 additional treatment beds are part of those improvements.
The facility sits in Precinct 1 where Rebeca Clay-Flores is county commissioner. "I'm glad that we have 130, but of course we lost some with Nix Hospital closing, and so we need to continue to make sure that we have more mental health beds, more diagnosis beds," she said.
She added that mental health and substance abuse treatment programs and diversion programs are helping to reduce the crowded county jail's population and the resulting overtime pay for detention deputies.
