An aerial view of the Washington Department of Social and Health Services Brockmann Campus. The inpatient psychiatric facility will remain closed because of budget cuts.
Department of Social and Health Services / Washington State DSHS
One of the latest casualties of Washington state’s massive budget deficit is a state-run mental health facility. The Clark County Residential Treatment Facility, or Brockmann Campus, will remain shuttered despite being just weeks away from opening.
“For the next two years, they’re going to mow the lawn and kind of keep the facility brand new, but there’s not going to be any services offered there,” said state Sen. Paul Harris, R-Camas. “Pretty absurd.”
The change was first reported by The Columbian.
The 48-bed Brockmann Campus in the Mount Vista area north of Vancouver was meant to take pressure off of the Western State Hospital, one of Washington’s two psychiatric hospitals. It would have focused on people with civil commitment orders getting inpatient treatment.
Those services will be delayed for the foreseeable future. Funding could be reevaluated when the legislature’s next budget cycle begins in 2027.
State lawmakers made widespread budget cuts and raised taxes during the legislative session that concluded in April. The cuts were an effort to close an estimated budget shortfall of up to $16 billion over the next four years.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the new budget into law on May 20.
An architectural rendering of the Washington Department of Social and Health Services Brockmann Campus. The inpatient psychiatric facility will remain closed because of budget cuts.
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services / Contributed
The Brockmann facility would have employed 154 full-time staff and been operated by the Washington Department of Social and Health Services. The agency was recently instructed to maintain the facility in a “warm closure” status.
“We just have funding to maintain it,” Cynthia Shipley, a spokesperson for the agency, said. “We’ll have security cameras on campus, and we’ll have a couple of DSHS employees Monday through Friday during work hours.”
Shipley said local jails would have benefited from having such a facility by creating more options where patients could be sent for treatment besides the Western State Hospital. A shortage of space could instead result in people who are at risk to themselves or those who are considered disabled due to mental illness being held in jail. Patients under a civil commitment are typically held for observation for 72 hours, but that can be extended up to 180 days under an involuntary treatment order, according to Shipley.
Officials with the Clark County Superior Court did not respond to an interview request.
“When we have budget crises, the least people that can afford it are the poor and the indigent,” Harris said.
Correction: This story originally misstated the type of patient services state officials plan to offer at the Washington Department of Social and Health Services Brockmann Campus.