Two representatives have partnered on a bipartisan bill that would allow inpatient psychiatric hospitals to apply for mortgage assistance.
The Securing Facilities for Mental Health Services Act — which is co-led by Reps. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y. — would eliminate the prohibition in Section 242 of the National Housing Act, according to a Jan. 9 news release.
This section currently makes inpatient psychiatric hospitals the only type of healthcare facility prevented from applying for mortgage assistance through the Section 242 program.
The bill aims to increase access to behavioral health services across the country by eliminating further barriers to psychiatric inpatient hospital expansion and addressing the inpatient bed shortage in the United States, the release said.