Tarrant County could eliminate its Department of Human Services, which offers rent and utility payment assistance to people experiencing financial crises, two county commissioners say.
Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons said in a TikTok posted Tuesday the department is set to shut down on September 30.
"They’re treating it like a done deal before the public ever had a chance to weigh in,” Simmons said in the video. “No plan, no replacement.”
Employees just found out they're losing their jobs, she said.
Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez told KERA News the county is considering eliminating the department during budget talks this summer, but nothing is final. The goal would be to replace the Department of Human Services through partnerships with nonprofits, he said.
“The expectation is that there will be zero service impact,” Ramirez said. “If anything, service will improve from shifting to this model.”
KERA News reached out to the county spokesperson for clarity on the plan and to find out how many employees would be affected but did not hear back by this story's deadline.
Ramirez and Simmons are elected officials on the five-member Tarrant County Commissioners Court, which is in charge of the county budget. They usually debate the county’s spending plans in August and September. Simmons and the other three court members did not provide comment before this story's deadline.
Commissioners have prioritized lowering the property tax rate in recent years. That means the budget office is always looking for ways to cut spending, and it identified the Department of Human Services as “pretty low-hanging fruit as far as finding efficiencies,” Ramirez said.
When asked if there are any local nonprofits ready to take on the agency’s work, Ramirez said the Department of Human Services already acts as a “broker and a middleman” in distributing grants.
That’s not the case, according to Lisa Martin, who was director of the Department of Human Services until her retirement in May. Human Services does not outsource its work to nonprofits, she told KERA News Wednesday.
Martin, who worked for the department for more than 30 years, was surprised and disappointed when she heard it would shut down, she said.
"A lot of people live one paycheck away from being homeless, being evicted or having their utilities disconnected,” Martin said. “It's very important that county government support its low-income citizens and citizens who are facing some type of financial emergency.”
Under Martin, Human Services had 25 employees, including herself, she said. According to Ramirez, employees affected by a department shutdown would be able to apply to other jobs within the county.
The Department of Human Services has an approximately $4 million budget in the current 2025 fiscal year, according to the county’s budget summary.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org.
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