(The Center Square) – King County is expanding its mobile crisis program to help people throughout the region experiencing behavioral health or substance use crises, to the tune of more than $20 million next year.
Mobile crisis teams help people in crisis across the county. They arrive on scene to de-escalate and resolve crises occurring on streets and work to connect unhoused people to supportive services throughout the county.
King County’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Division launched 10 new mobile crisis teams to the field on Dec. 2.
There are now 27 mobile crisis teams on the ground, which helps provide the region with more coverage.
With the inclusion of the new team, King County is funding a total of $22 million for mobile crisis teams in 2025, according to King County Department of Community and Human Services Communications Manager Angie Malpass.
Funding for the expansion of the county’s mobile crisis teams comes in part from $3.5 million from last year’s voter-approved $1.3 billion Crisis Care Centers Levy for 2024 and 2025. The levy costs property owners 15 cents per $1,000 in assessed value, meaning an average King County homeowner paid approximately $127 toward the levy in 2024.
The expansion is also being funded by Medicaid; national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline legislation to prepare teams for enhanced mobile crisis designation; the MIDD Behavioral Health Sales Tax, which is a countywide 0.1% sales tax generating approximately $136 million per two-year biennium; the state’s general fund; and funding from the city of Seattle.
King County’s mobile crisis teams have been operated by the nonprofit Downtown Emergency Service Center since 2009. The organization will continue serving those in need in Seattle and Vashon.
Sound Behavioral Health and Crisis Connections are also new organizations working within the county’s mobile crisis program.
“We’re thrilled to extend our contract with [the Downtown Emergency Service Center] and bring on Sound for the expansion — both are proven, long-trusted partners in behavioral health care and are already collaborating and supporting each other to put our clients first,” King County Behavioral Health and Recovery Division Director Susan McLaughlin said in a statement.
