Johnson was set to present the budget Wednesday, Oct. 21. He said the proposed CARE funding would replace roughly $5.2 million in federal American Rescue Plan money that expires this year. CARE sends mental health teams to certain 911 calls, either at a dispatcher’s direction or in response to requests for help.

“I’ve made a commitment to ensure that people can receive treatment that they need,” Johnson said in an interview this week, describing the investment as part of the city’s community-safety work.

The clinic proposal does not identify a location or specify its cost. Johnson said reopening a clinic would advance his commitment to reverse earlier closures. Chicago shut 14 mental health clinics between 1989 and 2012, leaving five by 2016, according to a 2025 city inspector general audit. Johnson’s administration has since reopened city-run clinics in Pilsen and Roseland.

The mayor plans to rely on revenue from Chicago’s social media tax to support the investments. The tax charges 50 cents per Chicago user after the first 100,000 users, but the money collected is being held in escrow while litigation over the tax proceeds. The city was on track to collect $49.2 million by the end of 2026, more than initially expected.

Johnson said he is confident the city will prevail in court and secure an ongoing revenue stream for mental and behavioral health services. The tax remains a key uncertainty in the proposal: until the legal dispute is resolved, the city cannot freely use the escrowed funds.

The city’s 2025 budget set aside about $12.2 million for mental health clinics, while recent mental health programming has relied heavily on federal pandemic relief funding, the audit found. CARE’s hours were recently expanded to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Johnson said city officials are seeing more calls for the teams and that broader access can help build public trust in the service.