• Posted February 4, 2026

RFK Jr. Expands Faith-Based Addiction Care as Drug Use and Homelessness Rise

Amid mounting drug use and homelessness in U.S. cities, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the federal government is overhauling the way it fights addiction.

The strategy announced Monday includes a new focus on faith-based recovery programs and increased access to medication treatment.

Kennedy announced plans to open federal funding to religious organizations that provide addiction care, while launching new programs aimed at helping people who are homeless and struggling with mental illness or substance use get long-term support.

Kennedy, who has spoken openly about overcoming a 14-year heroin addiction with help from 12-step programs, said the current health system has often caused people to “cycle endlessly between sidewalks, emergency room visits, jails and mental hospitals and shelters.”

He said substance use plays a major role in homelessness and called for more intensive recovery programs that help people learn how to live in the community and find jobs.

Kennedy said that he had seen many people turn their lives around in “sober homes and recovery houses.”

As part of the plan, federal funding, including state opioid response grants, will now be open to faith-based organizations.

“We are bringing faith-based providers fully into this work,” Kennedy said. “This is a chronic disease. It’s a physical disease, it’s a mental disease, it’s emotional disease, but above all, it’s spiritual disease. And we need to recognize that and faith-based organizations play a critical role.”

At the same time, Kennedy announced a major expansion of access to medications for opioid use disorder.

States and native tribes will be allowed to use federal child protection funds to help addicted parents receive treatments like buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone.

The goal? To keep families together and avoid the need for children to enter foster care.

Dr. Yngvild Olsen, formerly with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, told The New York Times that the change “has the potential to save lives.”

Kennedy also introduced a new $100 million pilot program called STREETS, an acronym for Safety Through Recovery, Engagement and Evidence-Based Treatment and Supports.

The program is designed for people who are homeless and living with addiction or serious mental illness.

“We’ll engage people continuously, from first contact on the street through recovery, through employment and through self-sufficiency,” Kennedy said. “Law enforcement, courts, housing providers and health care systems will work as one team, so people will no longer fall through the cracks.”

He also announced a $10 million grant to expand assisted outpatient treatment, which allows courts to require people with serious mental health issues to receive care in the community.

Tom De Vries, president of Citygate Network, which represents about 330 Christian rescue missions, said many faith-based groups are adjusting to the opportunity of receiving federal support.

“The government has reached out to us and invited us into the process more than we had been previously,” he said, adding that some organizations are weighing funding opportunities against restrictions on religious practices — for instance hiring only Christians.

The administration is also moving away from the government’s long-standing “Housing First” approach. It focused on placing people in permanent housing and then offering, but not mandating, treatment.

Rev. Andy Bales, former CEO of the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles, said faith-based providers were often shut out under that system.

“They wrote us off,” he told The Times. “It was brutal.”

Bales also warned that recent Trump administration policy shifts threatened to send up to 170,000 formerly homeless people back onto the streets.

“It not only scared stakeholders, but it caused Republican senators to intervene and say, ‘This is too aggressive,’ ” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to be rolled out successfully unless the tone changes, and there is some compromise and diplomacy carried out.”

More information

AddictionHelp.com has more on faith-based addiction recovery.

SOURCE: The New York Times, Feb. 2, 2026