Iowa awards $10M in federal funds to support opioid care and recovery

CEDAR RAPIDS — Providers in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Mason City, Oskaloosa and Sioux City will receive a total of over $10 million to expand or improve facilities and develop sober-living housing options as part of an effort to help Iowans struggling with opioid addiction.

Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the grants Friday as part of $17.5 million in federal pandemic relief dollars directed to fund opioid use prevention and treatment projects. She said she’d allocate the federal funds after state lawmakers earlier this year failed to reach agreement on how to spend tens of millions in settlement funds — leaving them unspent for now.

Iowa is set to receive more than $144 million over the next several years from multistate settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors over their role in the opioid crisis. The funding will be split between state and local governments.

State lawmakers created the Opioid Settlement Fund in 2022 to hold that money, and it can be spent only by an act of the Iowa Legislature. A spokesperson for the Iowa Treasurer's Office said as of Friday, the balance in the fund stood at nearly $60 million.

“The opioid crisis is an epidemic that is poisoning our country and stealing loved ones from their families,” Reynolds said in a statement to The Gazette. “Our state has tens of millions of dollars in unused opioid settlements that could further treat addiction, raise more awareness for drug abuse, and provide additional supports at recovery centers. We have an opportunity to allocate these funds this session, and I look forward to working with the Legislature to find a way to do that."

In the meantime, the governor said the grants announced Friday will strengthen prevention, treatment and recovery efforts, “giving Iowans struggling with addiction a chance for healing and a better future."

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Grant receipients

The grants will assist in the construction and expansion of current treatment and recovery facilities, as well as the rehabilitation of existing structures. The organizations include:

A total of $1.9 million has been awarded to The Beacon and House of Mercy in Des Moines, along with One Eighty in Davenport, to purchase properties for sober-living recovery housing. The funding aims to enhance long-term housing security for individuals in recovery from substance use disorder, as well as survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, according to the governor’s office.

Higley Mansion

In Cedar Rapids, $2 million has been awarded to help renovate Higley Mansion, a former senior-living facility in southeast Cedar Rapids, into a 68-bed drug and alcohol treatment facility. The facility has been vacant since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The $4.6 million project calls for renovating the 27,000-square-foot facility and adding a 3,000-square-foot addition, with plans to open next year to offer residential rehab for people who voluntarily choose to enter treatment for substance use issues.

Cedar Rapids City Council members voted unanimously last month to provide financial incentives to 860 17th St LLC for the redevelopment of the mansion at 860 17th St. SE. The council voted in April to rezone the property to allow for its new use.

Abbe Center

AbbeHealth Mental Health Services, an affiliate of UnityPoint Health-Cedar Rapids, was awarded $750,000 to aid in the renovation and consolidation of three clinics into a new location at 615 Fifth St. SE.

The new facility, formerly known as the Stamats Communications building, has more than 31,000 square feet. UnityPoint Health officials said in a statement the move will aid in the launch of a new care model with more integrated services for patients.

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The eight-bed crisis stabilization service operated by AbbeHealth at the Linn County Mental Health Crisis Center will remain there, according to a news release.

Megan Vranish, interim executive director of the Abbe Center for Community Mental Health, said the Cedar Rapids community has seen a significant increase in the need for behavioral health services since the pandemic. Vranish said more than 400,000 Iowans suffer from mental health conditions, with 16 percent experiencing substance use disorders.

She said the grant will help build additional office space for group and individual services, enhancing the capacity to treat more people.

While the grant provides a valuable opportunity to expand services, Vranish said more funding is needed to address the ongoing opioid epidemic effectively. Though Iowa has seen fewer overdose deaths than neighboring states, she stressed that any life lost is too many.

“The demand for the services outweighs what’s available,” Vranish said. “Like a lot of organizations, we need more professionals than what we have. Some funding streams can be pretty narrow for things that we can provide, but this funding will create some capacity — the infrastructure to build out and expand so that we can look to develop new and innovative treatments to help people with complex needs.”

The bigger picture

Lawmakers advanced competing proposals over how to spend opioid settlement funds in the last days of the 2024 legislative session, but failed to reach an agreement — leaving the funds unspent for a second year.

House Republicans called for creating an advisory council that would review and approve grants applications for expenditures. Senate lawmakers, though, wanted to split the funding between the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and the Iowa Attorney General's Office, and give the departments authority to spend it as they see fit.

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Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, emphasized the need for a solution that involves both the Legislature and the department, with input from outside groups. “I feel confident that we'll be able to find a solution to this,” he said.

Iowa Senate President Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, said conversations have been happening since the session ended “to make sure that we get those dollars allocated” when the Legislature reconvenes in January “so that any Iowans who are suffering can get the help they need.“

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“The governor did a really good job of stepping up and using some one-time funds as a bridge, and so I would anticipate that the two chambers and the governor's office will find some resolution to get those dollars out the door,” Sinclair told The Gazette.

Surrounding Midwest states have seen some of the steepest declines in drug overdose deaths, while Iowa witnessed a more modest drop. Drug overdose deaths across the nation dropped 12.7 percent from May 2023 to May 2024, according to provisional data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nebraska saw the second-largest drop in the nation with a 28.6 percent decline, according to the CDC data. Double-digit declines also were recorded in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Iowa saw a 3.5 percent drop in drug overdose deaths year over year, according to the CDC’s compilation.

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“My plea would be that we come to agreement early and get that money out the door early in the session to show Iowans that we're serious about helping them,” Iowa Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner, of Iowa City, said. “ … There are institutions waiting and willing to take that money and put it to good use, to put it into (medication-assisted treatment), to put it into rehab, to help families and folks who are suffering from addiction.”

Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, D-Windsor Heights, said she’s hopeful for a bipartisan agreement.

“This crisis is huge in the state, and the dollars are there. We as a state have a responsibility to spend them,” Konfrst said.

Gazette correspondent Dick Hogan and The Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com