CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) is a mental-health-crisis intervention program in Eugene, Oregon, which has handled some lower-risk emergency calls involving mental illness and homelessness since 1989.

[4] After the George Floyd protests that year, several hundred cities in the US interested in implementing similar programs requested information from CAHOOTS.

[11] Staff members respond in pairs; usually one has training as a medic and the other has experience in homeless street outreach or mental health support.

[5][1][2] Responders attend to immediate health issues, de-escalate, and help formulate a plan, which may include finding a bed in a homeless shelter or transportation to a healthcare facility.

In 2019, 83% of the calls to which CAHOOTS responded were for "Welfare Check", "Transportation", or general public assistance, none of which are traditionally handled by EPD.

"[5] Taleed El-Sabawi and Jennifer J. Carroll wrote a paper detailing this and other considerations for local governments to keep in mind, as well as offering model legislation.

[13] CAHOOTS was founded in 1989 by the Eugene Police Department and White Bird Clinic, a nonprofit mental health crisis intervention initiative that had been in existence since 1969 as an "alternative for those who didn't trust the cops.