Louisville mayor proposes to use opioid settlement funds for addiction services

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- City leaders are pushing to use funding to help prevent and end addiction.

During a briefing Tuesday, Mayor Craig Greenberg said he plans to introduce legislation in Metro Council next week.

"I'm proposing the city use a portion of our opioid settlement funds for several different purposes," he said.

Greenberg said the city has received these funds for several years now, helping people who struggle with addiction.

"We have used our funding to save lives, for treatment, and for prevention," he explained.

Greenberg said he's proposing three more uses for the next round of funds. He said the cost for all three combined would be around $2.6 million:

"First, we're going to propose to use some of the money for behavioral assessments for those with a Casey's Law petition," he said. "That is when family and and friends apply for a Casey's Law petition for a loved one who's in need of court-mandated drug treatment."

Greenberg said the second proposed use is to invest money in prevention services for the city's youth.

"This includes education, counseling, peer support, nursing, after school care and more to help students not get addicted to any substances in the first place," he said.

Greenberg said the proposed third new use of the funds would be behavioral health treatment "for those who are charged with unlawful camping and who are candidates for diversion."

He said this would create a diversion program in district court that would focus on working with people cited or arrested for unlawful camping, giving them an option other than jail time or fines.

House Bill 5 became law in Kentucky in mid-2024. Among other things, it adds carjacking and other crimes to the state's list of violent offenses, beefs up penalties for killing first responders and enacts new penalties for fentanyl trafficking and other related drug charges. It also creates criminal penalties for street camping and makes repeat camping in public areas, such as beneath overpasses, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail.

In his briefing, Greenberg said since he's become mayor, the number of calls to Metro 311 about encampment issues in the city has dropped significantly.

"77% fewer calls year-to-date in 2025 than we received for the same time period in 2023," he said. "We're receiving fewer reports of encampments around our community, fewer reports of people who are in distress and are in crisis who we need to help. That's momentum. That's heading in the right direction for our city," he said. "... there is still a lot of work to do, so we're not stopping."

Louisville is working to create a Community Care Campus. It will serve families and young adults, as well as help individuals in need of housing with medical assistance. It's expected to fully open in 2027. In the meantime, a temporary shelter opened in Nov. 2024.