About 24 hours after sending out form letters canceling nearly $2 billion in grants for mental health and addiction treatment for programs across the U.S., federal officials restored that funding Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Oregon has the highest incidence of mental illness, including addiction, in the country, according to Mental Health America’s 2025 report. The state has also invested heavily in recent years in improving its access to care, though many who need help still don’t get it.
Losing what would likely have been millions in funding from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration would not have helped, according to Gov. Tina Kotek.
“SAMHSA grants support mental health care, addiction treatment, and crisis services that Oregonians rely on every day,” Kotek said Wednesday in response to hearing about the cuts. “States don’t have resources to backfill these dollars. I will continue fighting for every resource available to keep Oregon safe, healthy, and supported.”
SAMHSA funding supports a wide variety of mental health and addiction initiatives, ranging from youth suicide prevention to drug and alcohol treatment programs.
In Portland, that funding includes a grant to the nonprofit Central City Concern to treat people living outside who suffer from mental illness.
“Often, we’re the only care many of our neighbors receive,” said Juliana Wallace, senior director of behavioral health at Central City Concern. “The funding provided by this five-year grant provides lifesaving services and is allowing (us) to leverage Medicaid funds for long term sustainability while using nontraditional locations such as sidewalks and housing sites to truly meet people where they are.”
Oregon Health Authority staff were still in the process of figuring out exactly how much money the state would have lost when they were told the cuts had been rescinded, according to spokesperson Amber Shoebridge.
It would have been a significant task to tally the funding loss, since only some of the federal grant money that flows to Oregon from SAMHSA is distributed through the state health agency. Other grants go directly to nonprofits or to county public health departments.
And while typically a list of active grants awarded by a federal agency can be found on the agency’s website, that was not the case Wednesday when the site was reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive. The only information available on the site’s grants tab was that Oregon had been awarded just over $940 million in SAMHSA grants since 2014.
Shoebridge, of the Oregon Health Authority, shared the letter from SAMHSA that was received by her office on Thursday:
“This correspondence serves as official notice that the termination of your federal award, previously communicated on January 13, 2026 … is hereby rescinded.
“Your award will remain active under its original terms and conditions. Please disregard the prior termination notice and continue program activities as outlined in your award agreement.”
Shoebridge said the state has three SAMHSA-funded programs that can now continue to operate as usual.
The Trump administration provided scant explanation for the short-lived cuts, noting in letters terminating the grants that the government has the authority to end the awards when they no longer serve “program goals or agency priorities.”
Congressional staff members told The New York Times that Congress is expected to consider a major appropriations package by the end of the month that includes funding for SAMHSA, although agreement has not yet been reached on final numbers.
SAMHSA officials did not respond to The Oregonian/OregonLive’s request for comment.