“I probably would have been dead now,†said Mr. Gutierrez, 61, a recovering alcoholic. “I was helpless.â€
Haven for Hope of Bexar County, is a 20-acre community that provides services, shelter and safety for people who are homeless or nearly so. Working with dozens of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, mental and medical health providers and religious groups, Haven helps people like Mr. Gutierrez make the transition from the street to a healthy home and a job.
For the first time since state lawmakers made historic budget cuts a decade ago, they are dedicating hundreds of millions of dollars more to mental health care. Haven serves as a model of the kind of services and success legislators aim to accomplish.
“It is a place of hope and new beginnings,†said Ms. Morin, the social worker who is now Haven’s assistant vice president for community and external affairs.
As Republicans and Democrats in the Texas House and Senate hash out the details of the state’s 2014-15 budget — there are fights over water, roads and education — one issue they are not arguing about is support for mental health.
“One thing we could all agree on was mental health was, to a large extent, a driver of crime,†said Representative John Zerwas, Republican of Richmond.
In the wake of mass shootings like the one at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., in December, lawmakers disagreed vehemently about addressing gun laws. But legislators in both parties acknowledged that Texas should raise itself from its position at the bottom of the heap in spending for mental health services.
From 2006 to 2009, Texas ranked last in the nation in per-capita spending on mental health services, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. In fiscal year 2010, Texas spent $39 per capita and moved up a couple of spots from the bottom of the list. By comparison, Maine, near the top of the list, spent more than $300 per capita.
For years, mental health advocates have urged lawmakers to spend more on mental health care to prevent people with psychiatric illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia from winding up homeless or in jail or a public hospital. In 2011, sheriffs across the state asked legislators to finance community-based treatment programs to keep mentally ill Texans out of their jails. Houston’s Harris County Jail has become a de facto state hospital where psychotropic medication is needed for 2,000 inmates a day, Sheriff Adrian Garcia has said.
Senator Joan Huffman, a Republican from Southside Place and a former prosecutor and criminal court judge, said lawmakers in both parties realized this year that the state had reached a critical juncture.
“At some point it’s really inexcusable,†she said, “and you have to do something about it.â€
This year, lawmakers had money to do something about it, said Dr. Zerwas, an anesthesiologist who sits on the House Appropriations Committee. In 2011, lawmakers faced a budget shortfall that some estimated to be as high as $27 billion. Now, budget writers are working with a surplus estimated at $12 billion.
Lawmakers have agreed to put $1.77 billion into mental health care, an increase of $259 million over the previous biennial budget. “It’s been a truly transformational amount of money,†Dr. Zerwas said.
Among the allocations, lawmakers are setting aside $57 million more to eliminate waiting lists for mental health services for children and adults. An additional $25 million will finance grants to local mental health authorities and crisis programs. Roughly $10 million more will go to substance abuse treatment.
To get a better idea about how state dollars should be invested, Dr. Zerwas and a bipartisan group of lawmakers toured Haven for Hope this year. The visit had a dramatic impact, he said.
Brightly colored butterflies on murals that decorate the buildings leading into the gated Haven campus represent its mission of transformation.
Haven opened in 2010 after an infusion of money and a fund-raising effort by a local business leader and a push from former Mayor Phil Hardberger of San Antonio to address the city’s homeless population. It has annual revenue of about $15.5 million, and nearly $1.6 million of that comes from state financing.
“You need to have some investment from your community,†said Mark Carmona, Haven’s chief executive. “It can’t be completely government-backed.â€
