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San Franciscans Weigh In On Mental Health Spending

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Oct 22, 2005 8:02 pm US/Pacific

San Franciscans Weigh In On Mental Health Spending

Joe Rogers
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) ― - Days after three children were thrown into San Francisco Bay, allegedly by their mentally ill mother, San Francisco held the first of two hearings soliciting public comment on how to improve its mental health services.
The city is expecting as much as $5.3 million in state mental health funding under Prop. 63, approved by voters last November.
Representatives of the Mental Health Association of San Francisco, a non-profit that advocates for the mentally ill turned out in droves at City Hall on Saturday to submit recommendations.
One of the advocates, Antonio Morgan, who once suffered from schizophrenia, said the county should place a high priority on keeping mentally ill people in stable housing.
"After I got into housing," Morgan told KCBS reporter Melissa Culross, "I was able to start taking medicine because I felt independent."
County health officials said they plan to focus more on early detection of problems and programs that strengthen family support of the mentally ill, since families are often the first to realize that a relative may be having a problem.
Prop. 63 imposes a one percent tax on incomes over $1 million to expand mental health services across the state.
San Francisco has another hearing planned for Monday.
(5:03pm, jro)