Phoenix City Council approved the 2021-22 budget, which includes funding for a new mental health response program, public safety reform and heat containment. The innovative plans included in the budget are in line with Mayor Kate Gallego’s priorities. These priorities include: • Drastically expanding the mental health response • Climate action and heat readiness • Resilience and economic recovery • Affordable housing and homelessness prevention • Continuous response and assistance with COVID-19. “Each of these problems speaks directly to the quality of life in Phoenix,” said Gallego. “The way we respond, improve, and expand on the way we respond to mental crises is critical to ensuring that people get the help they need. We need to protect our environment and our climate so that our families can live and grow. Likewise, every individual and family deserves a safe and comfortable place to live. We will continue our work to restore small businesses that suffered during the pandemic. “After all, as I have said many times before, the fastest way to recover from the economic devastation caused by COVID-19 is to recover and protect public health. This balanced budget addresses these priorities in a responsible and effective way. ”Improving Mental Health Response Gallego’s priority is to add $ 15 million to the Community Assistance Program (CAP). This civilian mental health response program is part of a larger series of reforms aimed at increasing public safety accountability, responsiveness, transparency and confidence. The number of Rapid Reaction Units will be increased to a total of 10, while nine new behavioral medicine units will be established in areas with the highest call density. Adequate training on crisis escalation is critical and provides a coordinated and collaborative approach to crisis management.Climate Action and Heat Preparedness Dealing with climate change and rising temperatures is critical to maintaining the vitality of Phoenix. Gallego made sure the budget addressed these issues directly by proposing the first Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, which includes tree and shade management; Solar energy inspection program; Greenhouse gas emissions inventories; updated tree population and database; Program for cool corridors and master plan for trees and shade. Business Resilience and Recovery Another Gallego priority is helping the recovery of small businesses that have been devastated by the pandemic. The budget funds a variety of initiatives that provide small business services, including staff search, training and retention. Affordable Housing and Homelessness With house prices rising and many still feeling the effects of pandemic job losses, problems with homelessness and affordable housing have never been felt so strongly, Gallego said. The mayor and city council recently approved the homeless strategies plan to increase and upgrade affordable housing units, use federal funds, and work with community partners to provide direct assistance to the community. With a further $ 2.8 million increase in funding today and four new staffing positions, the city is one step closer to its goal of reducing homelessness and increasing affordable housing. The budget for the financial year 2021-22 comes into force on July 1st.
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