Colleagues,
At our work session next Tuesday, we will be receiving a briefing on the No Wrong Door initiative. We are glad to see that staff from various departments as well as program partners from Integral Care and Central Health will be presenting and available for questions.
After receiving the August 3rd memo on the No Wrong Door Initiative, our offices have started to meet with City Departments and program partners to further understand the programmatic, operational, and policy aspects of the initiative. We support the goal of the initiative to better collaborate and coordinate services, support, treatment, and housing to find permanent solutions for our most vulnerable neighbors. We want to ensure that this critical work we are embarking on as a City alongside local and regional agencies and organizations is transparent and successful.
While some of our questions have been answered, many questions still remain and we will daylight those during our briefing. That being said, some of our outstanding questions are aligned with those listed in a letter titled “No Wrong Door Concerns” we recently received from the ACLU, the Texas Civil Rights Project, Disability Rights Texas, and the United Workers of Integral Care among other groups. We ask that City Staff and program partners address these concerns and questions during our briefing on Tuesday. Also, we ask that the City Manager and City Staff provide comments on the feasibility of the proposed safeguards listed in this letter.
We thank all of our City Staff for their diligent work on establishing this new program and bringing in all the many partners to better and more efficiently serve Austinites.
We look forward to our conversation on Tuesday.
CM Velásquez
CM Fuentes
CM Alter
CM Siegel
No Wrong Door Work Session Briefing
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Jose Velasquez
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2023 2:35 pm
No Wrong Door Work Session Briefing
Council Member, District 3
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Jose Chito Vela
- Posts: 131
- Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2022 8:16 am
Re: No Wrong Door Work Session Briefing
Colleagues,
Thank you for your post highlighting key questions and concerns. I read the letter and agree with the vast majority of the recommendations, especially regarding attorney-client relationships and respecting due process rights for those that may participate in the No Wrong Door program. However, the involvement of our police officers in any mental health diversion program is necessary and unavoidable right now. Under current state law, police officers are the only first responders authorized to place emergency mental health holds. Such holds are often critical to get folks with the most severe symptoms of mental illness into treatment. Participants in our own Downtown Community Court program come through initial contact with police. The relevant statute is below:
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/?tab ... c=573.0001
State Rep. Donna Howard has been a leader on legislation to empower emergency medical personnel to issue mental health holds. Such authority is a critical component of shifting mental health response to a medical focus instead of a law enforcement one. Her office has been working in close collaboration with our Government Relations team. While the legislation unfortunately did not pass, it has attracted a diverse coalition of urban and rural cities and counties as supporters. Rep. Howard is planning to refile the legislation as a piece of a broader legislative effort, including creating and funding more treatment and diversion options for mental health and addiction, all of which are important pieces of No Wrong Door’s intended strategy. The link to Rep. Howard’s bill from last session is below:
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Hi ... ill=HB1656
As we have worked with the community to fundamentally change our approach to mental health from criminal to medical, one of the most persistent and intractable challenges has been the lack of treatment capacity and long-term support, particularly for those with the fewest resources. Whoever is responding to serious emergency incidents involving mental health, there must be a comprehensive system in place to ensure lasting success for those most in need. The current system is the one that has delegated mental health response to our police, jails, and criminal courts. Whether it's No Wrong Door or similar policy changes we may try, it’s clear that the revolving door does not work. I look forward to our briefing and discussion at tomorrow’s work session.
Saludos,
Chito
Thank you for your post highlighting key questions and concerns. I read the letter and agree with the vast majority of the recommendations, especially regarding attorney-client relationships and respecting due process rights for those that may participate in the No Wrong Door program. However, the involvement of our police officers in any mental health diversion program is necessary and unavoidable right now. Under current state law, police officers are the only first responders authorized to place emergency mental health holds. Such holds are often critical to get folks with the most severe symptoms of mental illness into treatment. Participants in our own Downtown Community Court program come through initial contact with police. The relevant statute is below:
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/?tab ... c=573.0001
State Rep. Donna Howard has been a leader on legislation to empower emergency medical personnel to issue mental health holds. Such authority is a critical component of shifting mental health response to a medical focus instead of a law enforcement one. Her office has been working in close collaboration with our Government Relations team. While the legislation unfortunately did not pass, it has attracted a diverse coalition of urban and rural cities and counties as supporters. Rep. Howard is planning to refile the legislation as a piece of a broader legislative effort, including creating and funding more treatment and diversion options for mental health and addiction, all of which are important pieces of No Wrong Door’s intended strategy. The link to Rep. Howard’s bill from last session is below:
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Hi ... ill=HB1656
As we have worked with the community to fundamentally change our approach to mental health from criminal to medical, one of the most persistent and intractable challenges has been the lack of treatment capacity and long-term support, particularly for those with the fewest resources. Whoever is responding to serious emergency incidents involving mental health, there must be a comprehensive system in place to ensure lasting success for those most in need. The current system is the one that has delegated mental health response to our police, jails, and criminal courts. Whether it's No Wrong Door or similar policy changes we may try, it’s clear that the revolving door does not work. I look forward to our briefing and discussion at tomorrow’s work session.
Saludos,
Chito