N.Y. mental health advocates pleased with Gov.'s budget proposal.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer submitted his proposed fiscal 2008-2009 budget this month, a document that is garnering praise from many in the mental health advocacy community for its commitment to programs and services for people with psychiatric disabilities.

Spitzer's proposal adds funding and resources to important areas for mental health consumers, said advocates, including workforce and community-based housing and prison mental health reform.

The governor's proposed budget offers 2,000 additional housing opportunities (including 1,500 supportive housing beds and funding for 500 congregate care units) for consumers with mental illness.

"There's a lot of good news for people with psychiatric disabilities and other disabilities and the workforce that supports them in New York," Harvey Rosenthal, executive director of the New York Association of Psychiatric …