A year after California voters approved a huge bond to build more treatment centers for addiction and mental health conditions — including those living in tents and campers — Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced $3.3 billion in grants for more than 120 projects statewide.

The funding includes money to build 19 centers in the Bay Area to help reduce a critical shortage of behavioral health treatment programs as need continues to soar.

One grant recipient is Ritter Center in San Rafael, which was awarded nearly $10.5 million. The funds will support the Ritter Builds Hope project, a behavioral health center planned at the nonprofit’s new building at 800 A St.

“As the only federally qualified health center in Marin County with a ‘health care for the homeless’ designation, we are honored to expand our services to care for Marin County’s most vulnerable populations,” said Mark Shotwell, the nonprofit’s chief executive officer. “The Ritter Builds Hope project will meet a critical need for mental health counseling, substance use disorder treatment and crisis response services.”

Cynthia Le Monds, the organization’s fundraising director, said the state funding “will cover renovations to allow us to move into the facility by next summer.”

The grants are the first major use of Proposition 1, a $6.4 billion bond pitched by Newsom that barely earned approval by a majority of voters in March 2024.

At a news conference on May 12, Newsom said the funding marks a pivotal moment in California history to address behavioral health crises and homelessness, which he called “the issue of our time.” This first phase of grants was only awarded to organizations that proved they could quickly launch new treatment centers in several years, he said.

“We’re not taking our time,” Newsom said. “We’re addressing this crisis with that sense of urgency that you deserve.”

At the same conference, Newsom called on local governments to effectively ban encampments and sweep dangerous camps faster. Cities throughout the Bay Area have recently restricted camping, but Newsom stopped short of actually requiring local governments to do so.

In Contra Costa County, health officials won $98 million in Prop. 1 funds to build two new residential treatment facilities with a combined 48 new beds in Pleasant Hill and Oakley. They also plan to build a new center with “crisis triage” and substance withdrawal services in Pittsburg.

In the southern Santa Clara County town of Gilroy, the nonprofit HealthRight 360 will receive $21 million to build a facility with 60 beds for addiction, mental health and withdrawal treatment.

Vitka Eisen, the president of HealthRight 360, said the funds will set up the new facility in Gilroy and another in Ventura County that together will treat 1,000 people per year. At a rehabilitation center, the atmosphere of the facility itself matters, she said.

“How that individual is greeted, or what that space looks like and feels like, plays a critical role in determining whether they stay and become engaged in care,” Eisen said. “That is why these Prop 1. infrastructure projects are so critical.”

Other Bay Area cities that will get new treatment centers include San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Napa, Hayward, Concord and Morgan Hill.

In Oakland, the nonprofit Horizon Treatment Services won $23 million to replace a pair of aging Victorian buildings that house a small residential program treating women with addictions and mental health conditions. The new site, expected to open in two or three years if Oakland approves the permits, will be an integrated detoxification and residential treatment center with about 100 beds that can serve up to 10,000 people a year, according to Jaime Campos, Horizon’s chief executive officer.

“We’re pretty much dancing in the streets if you ask the Horizon leadership about it,” Campos said. “This is a momentous opportunity to leverage the state investment in the system of care and beautify our facility.”

At Ritter Center in San Rafael, the new program will “centralize and expand access to care in a purpose-built setting focused on trauma-informed, integrated treatment,” the nonprofit said in an announcement about the grant.

“This new facility will allow us to serve more people, more effectively — especially those who face complex barriers to accessing care,” said Rory Rieger, clinical director at Ritter Center. “Our work is grounded in the belief that everyone deserves access to comprehensive support, regardless of their housing or income status.”

Statewide, the new grants will help create 5,000 new inpatient treatment beds and nearly 22,000 new outpatient spaces within several years, according to Newsom’s office. A 2021 study estimated that California had a shortage of roughly 7,730 treatment and residential care beds.

At the news conference, Newsom said that grant reviewers rejected applications that weren’t “launch-ready.” As conditions to receive the funds, the grant recipients had to prove they can quickly complete the permitting and construction process.

To speed that up, all of the approved projects are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act — a feature of the proposition that voters approved last year, according to Newsom. The premier environmental law has become notorious for tanking construction projects.

Newsom called on local governments to quickly approve the siting and permits for these new proposed treatment centers. Cities and counties often face backlash from neighbors when considering where to locate treatment programs and services for homeless residents.

“This was, again, all that we promised and promoted,” Newsom said. “The final piece now is local permits, and getting these construction projects, rehab projects, moving.”

The Independent Journal contributed to this report.