HHS Awards $96M Through STREETS for Behavioral Health Systems
Eight communities will receive up to $3 million annually through SAMHSA's STREETS program, moving the federal Treatment First framework into locally funded behavioral-health, housing and recovery systems.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has selected eight communities for a four-year behavioral-health initiative designed to bring street-based treatment and recovery services to people experiencing homelessness alongside serious mental illness, substance-use disorders or co-occurring conditions.
$24 million annually, $96 million across four years
The Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Support program — STREETS — is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. HHS announced the recipients on October 2 and described the eight-community cohort as a $96 million, four-year program.
SAMHSA's original funding notice listed $24 million in anticipated funding for a program year, up to eight awards and an annual award ceiling of $3 million per recipient. The project period can run for up to four years.
The four-year headline therefore should not be read as an unconditional one-time $96 million payment. SAMHSA states that continuation awards remain contingent on funding availability, progress toward program goals, required reporting, compliance with award conditions and other federal requirements.
The first STREETS cohort spans eight jurisdictions
The selected recipients include city and county governments, a behavioral-health authority and a tribal government. HHS says the projects will serve people experiencing homelessness who also have serious mental illness, substance-use disorders or co-occurring conditions.
- Montgomery County, OhioAlcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board for Montgomery County
- Cherokee Nation, OklahomaCherokee Nation
- Detroit, MichiganCity of Detroit Health Department
- Houston, TexasCity of Houston Health Department, Human Services Division
- Huntington, West VirginiaCity of Huntington
- Miami-Dade County, FloridaMiami-Dade County
- Robeson County, North CarolinaRobeson County
- Tangipahoa Parish, LouisianaTangipahoa Parish Government
HHS says the local systems are expected to bring together behavioral-health and healthcare providers, housing partners, local government, law enforcement, courts, first responders and community organizations.
That multisystem structure is important. STREETS is not a corrections or reentry grant, but its service model can intersect with people who also encounter courts, diversion programs, crisis systems and other public institutions.
STREETS puts Treatment First into funded local systems
The October awards follow a series of federal actions that have moved the Treatment First framework from guidance toward funded implementation.
In August, ONDCP, HHS/SAMHSA and HUD released a federal Treatment First toolkit linking behavioral-health treatment and recovery with housing, employment, transportation, courts, diversion, supervision and other community systems. That document was guidance rather than a grant award.
STREETS changes the lifecycle. Eight communities now have federal cooperative agreements to build systems around street engagement, treatment, recovery support, housing and coordinated service delivery.
The original STREETS funding materials also place courts and diversion within the program environment, including specialty-court and other pathways intended to connect eligible participants with treatment and support services.
Miami's federal award record shows implementation taking shape
HHS grant records provide a more detailed view of one of the eight projects. TAGGS identifies H79SM091733 — Miami Safe STREETS Collaborative, with a performance period running from September 30, 2026 through September 29, 2030.
- RecipientMiami-Dade County
- Award numberH79SM091733
- FY2026 action amount$2,999,194
- Performance periodSeptember 30, 2026–September 29, 2030
- Projected reach1,200 unduplicated participants over four years
- Primary settingStreet-based behavioral-health and housing engagement
The federal project description says the Miami collaborative will serve unsheltered adults with serious mental illness, substance-use disorders and co-occurring disorders who are disconnected from traditional services. It identifies high-need areas including Downtown Miami, Overtown, Little Havana, Allapattah and the Wynwood/Edgewater corridor.
The project description outlines mobile engagement, psychiatric care, medication-assisted treatment, peer support, coordinated case management, crisis stabilization, transitional and permanent housing pathways, and recovery supports.
The federal competition has moved into implementation
The October 2 HHS announcement does not itself establish a new set of open contracts, provider solicitations or subawards across the eight communities.
The next stage is local implementation. Public records from the funded jurisdictions will show how each community assembles its STREETS system: which organizations participate, how treatment and housing services are coordinated, how referrals move between systems, what local agreements support delivery and whether any additional service capacity is purchased.
Miami's award record already provides an early example by identifying the project geography, target population, service model, performance period and projected participant reach.
Comparable records from Detroit, Houston, Huntington, Montgomery County, Cherokee Nation, Robeson County and Tangipahoa Parish will show whether the eight communities develop similar operating models or substantially different local approaches.
STREETS sits within a broader federal behavioral-health direction
The $96 million STREETS program is distinct from other HHS and SAMHSA funding actions announced in 2026, but it fits within a broader policy direction linking behavioral-health treatment, recovery support, housing and coordinated community systems.
In September, HHS and SAMHSA announced a separate $383.4 million behavioral-health award package spanning 988 and crisis infrastructure, substance-use treatment and prevention, mental-health services, treatment drug courts and justice-diversion programs.
A separate mobile-crisis award cohort moved into identifiable local implementation models, while the proposed $4.6 billion Behavioral Health Innovation Block Grant remains an FY2027 policy and budget proposal rather than an enacted $4.6 billion award program.
The programs should not be combined into a single funding figure. Read together, however, they show federal behavioral-health policy moving through different stages: guidance, award decisions, local implementation and proposed future funding structures.
Official and primary-source records
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OACRA reports on material U.S. behavioral-health, housing, reentry, community-supervision, public-funding and justice-system implementation developments using government and primary-source records.
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Explore Find Services →Editorial note: OACRA News & Policy Review is published by OACRA LLC, an independent private organization. OACRA is not a government agency and is not affiliated with or endorsed by HHS, SAMHSA or the funded jurisdictions. Funding figures and implementation details in this report are based on official HHS, SAMHSA and TAGGS records reviewed October 6, 2026. STREETS is a cooperative-agreement program; references to possible local contracts, subawards or provider selection are not represented as open opportunities unless supported by a separate public record.
