Local health officials offered a look into the addiction treatment and recovery programs that received millions after months of criticism over the city’s lack of transparency around its opioid settlement fund spending.
Officials from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York City Health + Hospitals and the Office of Chief Medical Examiner presented how much they’ve spent of the $154 million in opioid settlement funds the city has collected at a City Council hearing Tuesday, outlining allocations to substance use disorder programs in emergency rooms, expanded hours for syringe service providers and counseling programs for people who’ve lost a loved one to an overdose. Addiction treatment providers and health advocates have pushed the city to be more forthcoming about its spending for months as overdose deaths remain high.
The city allocated $33 million in settlement funds last fiscal year, and plans to spend $186 million between 2025 and 2028, Rebecca Linn-Walton, assistant commissioner of alcohol and drug use at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said at the hearing.
The Health Department has funneled most of its money so far, $8.6 million, to the nonprofit OnPoint NYC, which runs a syringe service program and a supervised drug use site, to expand hours of operation for wraparound services such as medical testing and syringe exchange and offer new services. The public hospital system, meanwhile, has spent $10 million on bolstering its ED Leads program which ramps up substance use disorder screening in emergency rooms at all 11 locations, according to Dr. Daniel Schatz, director of behavioral health program and policy at H+H.
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner has spent $4 million to offer counseling to people who have lost a loved one to an overdose, as well as to hire additional scientists to conduct autopsies and research overdose deaths.
Despite the city’s breakdown, local lawmakers are still questioning whether the funds are getting to the neighborhoods that need them most.
Queens Councilwoman Linda Lee, who chairs the council’s committee on mental health, addiction and disabilities, questioned whether those funds have reduced overdoses in the Bronx and Staten Island – which face the highest overdose rates citywide – and asked how the city targets communities in need.
Health officials said that they take overdose rates into account when determining which neighborhoods should get access to funding and expanded services.
“We can’t just do it blanketed across the city, because that may not have enough of an effect on the South Bronx,” said Linn-Walton, speaking about how the city decides where to spend on harm reduction tools such as naloxone. The city has not provided a detailed look into which neighborhoods received such funding in its latest spending report.
New York City recorded 3,046 overdose deaths in 2023, the most recent year that data is available. The overall fatality count modestly decreased by 1% in the first decline since 2018, but the crisis got worse in low-income neighborhoods in the Bronx and among older Black individuals.