New Funding Opportunity to Build Mental Health Residential Treatment Facilities and Capacity 

The King County Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) released a new Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking Behavioral Health Agencies (BHAs) to create new residential facilities and beds for mental health treatment in King County.

With funding from the Crisis Care Centers (CCC) Initiative, this RFP supports King County’s goal to restore our region’s mental health treatment capacity by:

• Adding 115 mental health residential treatment beds
• Increasing geographic access to treatment
• Increasing the availability of culturally and linguistically appropriate services at local treatment facilities  

“This marks an exciting milestone for the Crisis Care Centers Initiative, making much-needed capital investments available so we can bring more beds back online. Expanding access to this level of specialized care will help decrease wait times for treatment and ease the burden on higher-intensity care settings, like emergency rooms, and the system as a whole.” 
-Jennifer Winslow, Strategic Director of the CCC Initiative

Residential Treatment is a community-based treatment option that provides 24/7 treatment in a safe, supportive environment where people can receive intensive services to stabilize and recover from mental health and/or substance use conditions.

Multiple mental health residential treatment facilities have closed in recent years due to rising operating and maintenance costs, aging infrastructure, and insufficient resources to repair facilities. As of October 2023, King County had a total of 240 mental health Residential Treatment beds for the entire county, down nearly one third from the capacity of 355 beds in 2018, which we are working to restore and preserve. In 2022, King County raised the alarm on the loss of these beds and purchased Cascade Hall, a 64-bed residential treatment center in north Seattle.

Through this RFP, DCHS will prioritize creating mental health residential treatment options where all eligible King County residents can access this kind of tailored support, when they need it.

Highlights for providers to know about this RFP include:  

1. Covered costs include purchasing land, acquiring existing facilities, planning and design, building renovations or expansions, new construction, and other capital pre-development and development expenses. 
2. This RFP does not provide funding for operations. Operational funding, including Medicaid and other payor sources, will be contracted subsequently to proposers in advance of site openings. 
3. It makes available up to $59.2 million of CCC levy funds in 2025 through this first round of procurement. Future rounds of procurement will open in 2026 and 2027.
4. The maximum potential award shall not exceed $13,500,000 per proposal.

For full RFP details and to apply, visit: www.zoomgrants.com/zgf/RTFCD  
Proposal deadline: Friday, March 28, 2025 by 2:00 p.m.   
Email questions to: dchscontracts@kingcounty.gov 

This RFP is the most recent procurement released through the CCCC Initiative, a once-in-a-generation investment approved by King County voters to transform how people can access behavioral health care in our region.

This RFP compliments the initiative’s Request for Applications (RFA) to provide capital development funding to help existing behavioral health treatment facilities located in King County sustain their current number of mental health residential beds. We awarded $15 million in 2024 and the RFA remains open until July 31, 2025.

For all CCC funded programs, DCHS seeks to support BHAs that recognize and address the inequities that exist in communities in King County. Proposers for this RFP can increase equity in the behavioral health system by proposing funding for an organization with expertise and experience providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services to populations experiencing behavioral health inequities.

In addition to restoring residential treatment capacity, the CCC Initiative’s top priorities include creating a countywide network of five crisis care centers and strengthening King County’s behavioral health workforce.  

“This RFP is the sixth procurement released through the Crisis Care Centers Initiaitive. All of this progress brings us significantly closer to providing specialized behavioral health care that is accessible to everyone in every part of the county. We’re acting quickly to open the first crisis care centers as soon as possible too.”
-Susan McLaughlin, Director, Behavioral Health and Recovery Division