Portland providers say region lacks psychiatric beds, treatment slots and recovery housing

At a Community and Public Safety Committee meeting Sept. 9, regional providers told Portland elected officials that the area lacks enough acute psychiatric beds, residential treatment options and recovery housing to meet demand from people with severe behavioral-health conditions and substance use disorders.

Central City Concern President and CEO Dr. Andy Mendenhall said population-level Medicaid claims analysis shows a concentrated cohort driving disproportionate health-system use. “We don’t have enough behavioral health services,” Mendenhall said, and he told councilors the region is short roughly 40–50 acute psychiatric hospital beds, 150–200 secure residential treatment beds for step‑down care, about 1,000 outpatient substance‑use‑disorder treatment slots and roughly 500 transitional recovery housing beds.

Those deficits, Mendenhall said, translate into higher hospital…