Sen. Velis Sounds Alarm over Proposed DMH Budget Cuts
BOSTON — With more than $80 million proposed to be stripped from mental-health programs by Gov. Maura Healey’s FY 2026 budget, state Sen. John Velis is raising the alarm on the impact this reduction in funding would have on the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable residents. As Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use, and Recovery, Velis is calling on his fellow lawmakers to prioritize restoring this funding ahead of the Legislature’s budget debates this spring.
Despite the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) receiving a 7% overall increase in the governor’s budget compared to the previous fiscal year, many vital mental-health programs face serious cuts, including, but not limited to:
• A 50% reduction in DMH case workers who support those with a behavioral-health disorder to live safely within their community;
• A $15.3 million cut to intensive residential treatment programs for children and adolescents, effectively closing more than half of the beds dedicated to serving youth with the most serious mental-health, emotional, and safety disturbances within the Commonwealth; and
• A $14.2 million cut to grants that help improve interactions between first responders and those with mental-health challenges.
“Over the past several years, the Commonwealth has made itself a leader in the nation through our work to create parity in how we support mental health and physical health. Understanding the very real fiscal challenges our Commonwealth is facing, I remain seriously concerned that these proposed cuts to various Department of Mental Health programs in the FY ’26 budget are a step in the wrong direction,” Velis said. “Put simply, we are jeopardizing the sustained stabilization of our most vulnerable residents, risk inundating our emergency rooms, and creating a greater strain overall on a system already asked to do more with less.”
Paired with uncertainty around federal funding and Massachusetts’s slow revenue collections, Velis shared that he is cognizant that tough decisions must be made, but firmly believes these cuts will not have the intended cost savings for the Commonwealth. He is slated to host an informational briefing next week at the State House alongside mental-health providers, families, and other advocates to rally support among lawmakers to restore this funding.