Harris County has been experimenting with a new model of addressing distress calls for four years. The county’s Holistic Assistance Response Team (HART) and Relentless Interrupters Serving Everyone (RISE) programs send mental health workers instead of deputies to 911 calls and violence interruptions to neighborhoods most affected by shootings.
Now, Commissioner Rodney Ellis is proposing to expand the county’s community safety programs by putting another $4.5 million into the $3.1 billion budget, even as the county faces a $181 million budget shortfall.
“These programs deliver the right responses at the right time, and they’re driven by fundamental truths,” Ellis said. “One being that people can’t be prosecuted out of poverty, mental health, and substance abuse in a jail cell, and survivors deserve a path to safety before violence turns deadly. We decided to start the programs to see if they’d work in Harris County and in Houston.”
In particular, Ellis wants to scale the HART and RISE programs ($2 million), sustain the Domestic Violence Prevention and Response Support ($1 million), and establish another standalone Community Safety Department ($1.5 million) that will strengthen the community response.
With the new addition, the county’s annual investment in the program will reach about $15.3 million.
The core tension
The point of contention behind the proposal is how much the programs can expand within budget constraints.
Ellis positions his proposal as a “modest” investment relative to what Harris County spends on law enforcement and detention. He said that instead of spending $105 in taxpayer dollars for a night in jail, that money can be diverted into programs that prevent crime.
“We’re trying to get my colleagues to agree to put $4.5 billion on a permanent basis in this budget,” Ellis explained. “That’s about 1.5% of what the county spends on law enforcement in jails…Last year, we booked more than 12,000 people on trespassing in low-level possessions. That’s not the crime problem. That’s untreated illness and poverty, and we pay a full price for it when we put them in jail.”
HART, which launched in 2022, sends behavioral health professionals and medical personnel to nonviolent calls involving mental illness and other concerns like homelessness and substance abuse. Per county numbers, the program has received more than 31,000 calls and connected more than 5,000 people with care.
On the other hand, RISE employs people with ties to communities experiencing high levels of gun violence to interrupt conflicts before they escalate into shootings. They also work with victims at hospitals to prevent retaliation. Per the county, RISE has interrupted 186 incidents of violence and engaged more than 27,000 residents.
“Gun violence doesn’t stay in one zip code, so neither should we,” said Larry Carrington, an outreach specialist and public safety liaison with RISE who serves the Sunnyside, South Park, and Greater Old Spanish Trail communities. “It’s a lot cheaper to have someone like me sit with a person in crisis than it is to arrest, prosecute, and lock them up after the fact. I do this work because I believe people can change if somebody’s willing to help them.”
The programs have grown, but slower than other cities
Despite being in operation for four years, Harris County’s programs remain relatively small compared with alternative-response systems.
Harris County has roughly 5 million residents, with 2.4 million residing in Houston, and recorded 8,650 HART calls in 2025.
But Albuquerque, with a population of about 560,000, recorded 42,450 community safety calls that year. The city says the alternative programs have freed up time for the police and fire departments, and its budget now includes $2 million to expand its outreach teams.
“For too long, our public safety systems have been built to respond only after harm has already happened.”
Rodney Ellis, Harris County Commissioner
Durham, North Carolina, with a population of roughly 306,000, handled 8,248 calls.
Ellis’ team attributed Albuquerque’s growth to a collaboration with the city, which Houston has yet to match.
“Houston has not been at the table other than during when they had ARPA funding…but they haven’t been a leading partner,” said Mariela Ruiz-Angel, director of community safety initiatives at Georgetown Law Center for Innovations in Community Safety. “It’s not to say that they can’t and that they shouldn’t. There’s just maybe different agendas and their use of funding might be a little bit different.”
Community leaders intensify the argument
Rev. James Dixon, pastor of the Community of Faith Church and president of the NAACP Houston Chapter, gathered advocates from health care and civic rights organizations to support Ellis’ expansion proposal.
“When you think about the socioeconomic dynamics in Black and brown communities in Houston, we do understand that poverty affects outcomes,” Dixon told the Defender. “If you think about where we’re serving now in South Park, in Sunnyside, in Cypress Station, this is where predominantly minorities live. This program is needed in communities throughout the county, especially where those socioeconomic dynamics affect people who are disenfranchised, marginalized, and often by the time we reach them, they’re already on the back end of the story.”
Instead, Dixon aims to “interrupt it on the front end” to prevent crimes before it’s too late.
Dr. Larry D. Brown Jr., associate director for the community health and violence prevention services division at Harris County Public Health, said the county’s approach is better suited than traditional law enforcement. Brown explained that because RISE relies on workers who belong to the communities they serve, they can de-escalate situations and provide resources.
“When you have relationships with individuals in the community, that’s an opportunity to talk someone down and maybe get them to change their mindset before they engage in any kind of criminal activity,” Brown said. “When law enforcement comes in, perhaps it could escalate a situation, even if it’s a behavioral health or a social service call. The presence of law enforcement, the sound of sirens, the flashing of lights, those types of things can be triggering for folks who don’t have that trauma-informed approach.”
Will Ellis get the votes needed?
Ellis needs three votes to include his proposal in the budget.
Commissioner Lesley Briones has expressed support for the programs without explicitly advocating for a new department.
“One of the most meaningful investments I’ve championed since taking office is the expansion and strengthening of HART,” Briones told the Defender. “Every budget season, I’ve proudly advocated for HART, RISE, and domestic violence support services. These programs are producing measurable results and should be scaled. People in crisis are connected with the resources they need, while allowing law enforcement to better focus on violent crime. It is a win-win.”
Meanwhile, Commissioner Tom Ramsey opposes the proposal.
“Commissioner Ramsey does not support spending funds on creating more layers of county government or expanding programs that duplicate services already provided by the County and its partners. HART overlaps with existing, award-winning behavioral health response programs like CORE and CIRT, while the Harris Center already provides comprehensive mental health services,” Ramsey’s office said in a statement. “Harris County should be focused on affordability by prioritizing its statutory responsibilities, not adding more layers of government bureaucracy.”
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo pointed to the rising cost of a five-year law enforcement pay package, casting doubt on whether the commissioners can leave room in the budget for prevention programs.
Commissioner Adrian Garcia had not responded to the Defender’s query by the time of publication.
Hence, it remains unclear whether the programs will receive an additional $4.5 million in the upcoming fiscal year.
