Overview

• Governor’s budget plan allocates $5 million in 2025-26, just one-third of the $15 million annual funding the Warm Line requested.
• The 24/7 peer-run service, overseen by the Mental Health Association of San Francisco, fields about 20,000 calls, texts and chats each month and saw over 40,000 contacts in May.
• With only $5 million available, CEO Mark Salazar warns the Warm Line may have to cut staff from 160 to 20, drastically curtailing support capacity.
• The Warm Line has been credited with saving Californians millions in health-care costs by reducing emergency room visits and freeing up first responders.
• Cuts coincide with police departments scaling back mental health crisis responses and proposed $700 billion federal Medicaid spending reductions.