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Durham expands Community Safety department: more HEART teams, new homeless services and pilot survivor‑care office
Summary
City proposes expanding Community Safety from programs launched in 2021 to a department of roughly 75 FTEs and a $11.2 million budget, adding crisis response teams, co‑response capacity and street outreach while moving homeless services and reentry programs under the new department.
Durham proposed a major expansion of its Community Safety department that would add crisis response capacity, move homeless services and reentry work into the department and launch a three‑year pilot of an Office of Survivor Care.
What was proposed: Community Safety Director Ryan Smith presented a budget and organizational plan that would expand the office created in 2021 from about 13 FTEs to roughly 75 FTEs under the manager’s reorganization and the proposed budget. The department’s total appropriations would increase from about $7.3 million to $11.2 million in the next fiscal year.
Core elements of the proposal - HEART expansion: The city proposes adding four new Community Response Team (CRT) units to expand daytime coverage and three positions to sustain co‑response teams that are currently funded through a three‑year Department of Justice grant. Smith said the additional CRT units would increase the number of HEART‑eligible calls the city can field; he said roughly 20,000 HEART‑eligible calls were…
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