California health officials have awarded Sonoma County $67.7 million in state behavioral health funding to develop multiple new facilities addressing critical mental health and substance use treatment needs, officials announced Wednesday.
The funding, sourced from Proposition 1 — a $6.4 billion mental health bond passed by California voters last year — will support construction of four 16-bed psychiatric care centers and a 40-bed adult residential drug treatment facility. All facilities will be built on county-owned property in east Santa Rosa.
Dr. Jan Cobaleda-Kegler, director of Sonoma County’s Behavioral Health Division, said the projects aim to fill longstanding gaps in local mental health services, especially for the county’s most vulnerable residents, including approximately 200 “conservatees.” These individuals, deemed gravely disabled due to mental illness, are under court-ordered care, with many also battling severe substance use disorders.
“For years, the county has struggled to provide enough psychiatric beds for patients in crisis,” Cobaleda-Kegler explained. “These new facilities will enable us to keep low-income mental health patients close to home instead of sending them out of county.”
The four 16-bed psychiatric rehabilitation centers will restore local capacity to levels seen nearly two decades ago, when Sonoma County operated two public psychiatric hospitals in Santa Rosa with a combined 60 beds for low-income residents. Over time, closures and downsizing—including the 2007 closure of a 30-bed Sutter Health facility and the 2008 closure of a 30-bed unit at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital—have significantly reduced bed availability.
The recently reopened Santa Rosa Behavioral Healthcare Hospital, operated by Signature Healthcare Services, has faced criticism over substandard care and safety issues, underscoring the need for more robust public options.
New Facilities Planned at Orenda Center Site
The new facilities will be located at the current Orenda Center detox site on Neotomas Avenue near Farmers Lane. Plans call for demolishing the existing Orenda facility to make way for the four mental health rehabilitation centers and the 40-bed residential drug treatment facility, which will include drug withdrawal management services.
The 16-bed size for the psychiatric centers complies with a federal regulation known as the IMD Exclusion, which restricts Medicaid funding for psychiatric facilities larger than 16 beds unless they are part of a medical hospital. This rule, enacted decades ago to dismantle large psychiatric institutions and promote community-based care, has had the unintended consequence of limiting county options and driving many patients to out-of-county facilities.
Currently, about half of Sonoma County’s mental health patients are treated outside the county due to these restrictions. Cobaleda-Kegler emphasized the importance of expanding local capacity: “It’s a lot of beds that would allow us to keep these folks here close to their families and community, improving their chances for recovery and a healthy life.”
The new facilities are scheduled for completion by December 2028 and will work in coordination with the county’s Crisis Stabilization Unit, a psychiatric emergency department serving many patients during mental health crises.
Additional Regional Behavioral Health Funding
Other North Bay area projects awarded state funds include:
- $28.2 million for a skilled nursing facility with a mental health program in Napa
- $4.4 million for an outpatient mental health clinic at Coppertower Family Medical Center in Cloverdale
- $7.7 million for an outpatient mental health clinic in Clearlake operated by Lake County Behavioral Health Services
- $13.5 million to Redwood Quality Management Company for a mental health rehabilitation center in Lakeport
- $9.1 million to Consolidated Tribal Health Project for a community wellness and prevention center in Redwood Valley
