Plumbing 
A 32-bed mental health treatment facility for Uvalde is under consideration by the Texas Legislature, as part of the current budget proposed by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
The agency’s spending plan calls for $30 million for the construction of a Uvalde Regional Behavioral Health Campus comprising both a 16-bed adult and 16-bed youth residential crisis facility, $3.6 million for equipment and an annual operating budget of $10 million.
The city of Uvalde in 2021 donated seven acres of land adjacent to the Uvalde County Fairplex on U.S. Highway 90 West for the project. It would employ about 100 people, including psychiatrists, nurses, counselors, case workers and direct care staff.
According to Landon Sturdivant, Deputy CEO of the Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Centers, the momentum to fund a regional treatment facility gained additional support in the wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022.
“We know that the needs of the Uvalde community following the Robb Elementary [tragedy] – the mental health needs – are going to be long term. And we believe this would be one approach that can help integrate enhanced behavioral health services in the community, both from a full continuum of crisis residential to expanded outpatient mental health services as well,” Sturdivant said.
Sturdivant said his agency, which would operate the proposed campus, has been working “very aggressively” with the Texas Legislature in recent weeks and that CEO Tod Citron had testified to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Appropriations Committee about the need for the project.
“We are estimating, and we have high hopes, that the Legislature will approve this,” Sturdivant said. “We understand it has a lot of support at the capital to help address the long term mental health needs of the community.”
Sturdivant acknowledged that the size of the proposed treatment facility is slightly smaller than concepts put forth in past years but that it would be designed with an eye toward expansion. He also said that Hill Country MHDD Centers would rely on Southwest Texas Junior College and Sul Ross State University to help meet staffing needs.
A federal grant of $2 million secured in 2021 by U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales has allowed Hill Country MHDD Centers to get head start on a design phase. If approved by the Legislature and signed off by the governor, Sturdivant estimated the facility could be operational in 18 to 24 months.
State Rep. Tracy O. King of Uvalde said the money for the proposed psychiatric facility is in the current state budget, and he is “cautiously optimistic” that lawmakers in Austin will approve it.
He added that the region is “woefully inadequate” in terms of beds to treat people suffering from mental health issues. That finding was confirmed by a recent study conducted by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. It was their recommendation to construct a facility in Uvalde to serve the Southwest Texas region.
