Crisis Diversion Facility Funding
d mh
I hope that you are doing well and thank you for your advocacy for our communities.
I am writing as a concerned Orange County resident to strongly urge you to keep the Crisis Diversion Facility moving forward and not abandon a project that the County has already identified, planned for, and invested in.
According to Orange County’s own public information, the Crisis Diversion Facility was identified through the Sequential Intercept Mapping process as a critical community need. The purpose of the facility is to divert individuals experiencing behavioral health crises away from the criminal justice system and emergency departments at UNC Hospitals. This is not a new or abstract idea. It is a documented local need that Orange County has already studied and named.
Orange County has also publicly described the planned facility as providing behavioral health urgent care for individuals age 4 and older for up to 24 hours, facility-based crisis services for adults for up to two weeks, and a peer living room and resource center with information about behavioral health services available in Orange County. The urgency has not dissipated. These are exactly the kinds of access points that help people receive care earlier, closer to home, and before a crisis becomes more severe.
The County has already taken concrete steps toward this project. In April 2025, the Board approved the purchase and sale agreement for a five-acre parcel off Waterstone Drive in Hillsborough for $1.35 million to serve as the site for the facility. In October 2025, the Board selected a design for a 19,825-square-foot facility estimated to cost $27.2 million. To reverse course now would not only delay needed care, it would walk away from a process the County has already determined to be necessary.
The need is not decreasing. Orange County’s 2025 Point-in-Time data counted 149 people experiencing homelessness. The unsheltered population increased from 33 people in 2024 to 48 people in 2025, while the sheltered count decreased from 115 to 101. These numbers represent people in our community who are already living with instability, and many of the same residents are also affected by behavioral health needs, substance-use challenges, and lack of access to consistent care.
At the same time, national projections around Medicaid and behavioral health funding point to growing pressure on local communities. Medicaid is a major payer for behavioral health services, and reductions in access to health coverage and crisis services will fall hardest on people with the fewest resources. That means local access points like this facility will become even more important, not less.
Cutting or scrapping this facility will not eliminate the need. It will shift the need to emergency rooms, law enforcement, jails, families, neighborhoods, and public spaces. That is more expensive, less humane, and less effective. A crisis diversion facility is a public health investment, a public safety investment, and a fiscally responsible investment.
I respectfully ask you to honor the County’s own research, the land purchase already approved, and the documented need for crisis services in Orange County. Please keep the Crisis Diversion Facility moving forward.
Thank you,
Danita Mason-Hogans
Jean Hamilton
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2026 5:20 PM
To: ALL_BOCC_MANAGER_CLERK <OCB...@orangecountync.gov>
Subject: Crisis Diversion Facility Funding
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