The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is investing $37.5 million in substance use disorder recovery housing across the state. The funding is a part of the 2026 fiscal year state budget for substance use disorder and treatment and recovery services.
The $37.5 million is from national opioid lawsuit settlements. Michigan is set to receive more than $1.8 billion in funding by 2040.
Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian is the Chief Medical Executive for the state. She said their goal is to address the opioid crisis, which has turned into a broader substance use disorder crisis.
“Now it’s more than just opioids,” she said.
Bagdasarian said their approach to the crisis involves four pillars:
- Prevention: stopping people from developing substance use disorder in the first place
- Harm reduction: preventing overdoses and other health consequences of substance use disorder
- Treatment: making sure that there are enough providers in the state so treatment is available for every Michigander who needs it
- Recovery: ensuring everyone in recovery has the tools they need to stay in recovery
“When we talk to people with lived experience, we heard over and over that the barriers for recovery are not having housing, transportation, and employment,” Bagdasarian said.
MDHHS says its goal is to increase the housing recovery beds available by 40% in the next few years. The department plans to create 3,647 new beds by 2028.
“We know that if you are finishing treatment and you have no place to go but the streets, you have a very low chance of staying in recovery,” Bagdasarian said.
She said the project is working toward creating infrastructure where people can stay for an extended period of time. Their focus is on underserved communities and listening to local voices, Bagdasarian added. MDHHS uses a Substance Use Vulnerability Index to pinpoint the largest areas of vulnerability in the community.
Bagdasarian said drugs are becoming more dangerous every day, impacting every age group and demographic.
“There’s a common misperception that this isn't something that's my problem,” Bagdasarian said. “And I think that we've got to think about, number one, the overdose deaths in our community. These are all our friends, our community members, our family members.”
