Sonoma County supervisors have officially changed course on how they handle some of the region’s most complex mental health needs, shelving a long-planned jail-based treatment project in favor of a sprawling inpatient behavioral health campus with a price tag county staff peg at about $135 million.
The board voted unanimously on Tuesday to move away from the decade-old mental health housing unit at the county jail and instead push ahead with a large standalone campus in east Santa Rosa. The goal, county leaders said, is to bring more treatment beds back inside county lines and cut down on the expensive practice of sending conserved clients to facilities elsewhere in the state.
Supervisors Lock In Sites And Take State Cash
At their Tuesday meeting, supervisors authorized the Department of Health Services to accept an amended conditional Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) award of $54.6 million and picked the Los Guilicos campus and the Orenda Center for deeper planning and feasibility work, according to Sonoma County. They also told the county’s chief executive to start unwinding the Sheriff’s long-running SB 863 Behavioral Health Housing Unit project and to redirect that project’s local set-aside to the new BHCIP effort.
Price Tag, Bed Count And A Big Funding Hole
County staff estimate the new campus at roughly $135 million. After design changes, the proposal has been trimmed from an earlier concept of about 104 treatment beds to an 88-bed campus, The Press Democrat reports. Even with state help, Sonoma County is staring at a funding gap of nearly $50 million, and the county has already been spending millions annually to house conserved clients in facilities outside its borders, the outlet notes.
Prop 1 Program Drives The New Strategy
The project leans heavily on California’s BHCIP, the Proposition 1 bond program that steers state grants into new inpatient, residential and crisis facilities across the state. The plan is designed to expand local treatment capacity instead of relying on distant private beds, in line with guidance from the California Department of Health Care Services. The BHCIP money is conditional and tied to strict requirements for project readiness and timelines.
Money Shuffle And Local Context
Staff told supervisors that the pivot allows the county to repurpose local match dollars once reserved for the jail housing unit and channel them into the BHCIP campus. Earlier county records show Sonoma County had already secured a large conditional BHCIP award in 2025, which set the stage for this latest move. Officials have argued that adding more local beds should eventually shrink the county’s recurring out-of-county placement costs and strengthen continuity of care for conserved clients, according to county documents.
Deadlines, Deals And What Comes Next
Supervisors directed staff to put out a competitive solicitation to evaluate project delivery options and to chase regional and private partners to help plug the remaining funding gap. County leaders aim to solicit bids through the end of July and submit final plans to the state by September, The Press Democrat reports. The county is also on the clock to meet BHCIP timeline rules that will dictate how fast planning, procurement and construction must move if Sonoma is going to lock in the conditional award.
Backers say the campus would keep patients closer to families and help chip away at the county’s long-term placement bills. Skeptics counter that the nearly $50 million gap and steep overall cost will force some painful budget decisions. For now, supervisors have stopped short of committing to a final design, instead instructing staff to seek competitive bids and creative financing while they try to close the shortfall.
