Substance Use and Mental Health Treatment
Untreated mental illness or substance use disorders can have wide-ranging impacts on a person, including loss of employment, strain or disconnect from families and friends, declining physical health, and/or loss of housing. The impacts of community members with untreated behavioral health conditions can also be felt by the entire community, including neighbors and businesses. Â Â
Investing in timely, accessible behavioral health treatment not only improves individual and community well-being but also helps prevent more costly interventions down the road. When behavioral health needs go unmet, they can escalate into crises that require emergency medical care, law enforcement response, hospitalization, and other intensive public services. By investing in treatment and ongoing support, we can improve outcomes for individuals while reducing avoidable costs across multiple community systems.Â
For example, an individual with an untreated substance use disorder can cost a community approximately $22,000 each year in emergency room visits, criminal justice services, and child welfare. By ensuring adequate treatment, we can reduce that cost by 90% to an estimated $2,430.Â
The City of Tacoma has joined jurisdictions all over the state to implement a 0.1% increase in the sales tax, called the Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder (MHSUD) Sales Tax. It’s important to note, this comes out to only 1/10th of one percent, or one penny, for every $10 purchase. The money under this section must be used solely for the purpose of providing for substance use disorder or mental health treatment programs and services that may include therapeutic court programs, case management, support to access treatment and housing.Â
How does the City of Tacoma use MHSUD Sales Tax revenue?Â
The City of Tacoma uses MHSUD revenue to fund behavioral health programs, including mental health and substance use disorder treatment, along with programs that connect individuals to treatment resources, primarily through Neighborhood and Community Services programming and Tacoma Fire Department’s Community Assistance Referral and Education Service (CARES) program.Â
In the CARES program, this funding supports nurses and case managers as they work with clients experiencing mental health and substance use disorders that lead to reliance on the 911-system. Â
In Neighborhood and Community Services, MHSUD funding primarily supports two pathways to services:
- Partial funding for the Homeless Engagement and Alternatives Liaison (HEAL) Team, which helps unhoused people with referrals to supportive services, including behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment, and shelters throughout Tacoma.
- Contracted programs that provide services to address mental health and/or substance use disorders, or that support individuals to gain referrals or access to these programs, throughout Tacoma.
Contract with the City of Tacoma
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