COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus City Council will use nearly $5 million to put 38 mental health specialists inside community shelters.
City council passed the resolution Monday night.
Executive members with Community Shelter Board were there to outline why this is needed.
In 2020, there were nearly 1,300 emergency calls made to Columbus shelters, which cost the city nearly $4 million.
The new partnership would provide trained mental health specialists onsite.
“What we want to do is, deploy resources that are more preventative, so it's really upstream. Which is really beneficial for everybody involved. For the police, the staff, and certainly the people struggling under the weight of these challenges," said Michelle Heritage, the executive director of the Community Shelter Board.
Heritage said this move is the first step to a long-term solution.
Each of the potential 38 positions will get a $50,000 salary.
