Harris County Commissioners Court on Jan. 9 approved a plan to transfer the HEART mobile crisis response program from its current contractor into county operations, with the county expecting to start transition staffing later in January.

County Interim Director Leah Barton told the court her department identified 28 people to join county payroll and completed plans for technology, vehicles and facilities to avoid interruption in service. "We're ready to get them started on Jan. 27," Barton said.

Supporters said bringing HEART in-house will give the county greater accountability and continuity of care. "We will have the continuity of services to the community and be able to further expand the program," Commissioner Briones said. She described the move as a win for both public health and public safety.

Critics asked for clearer performance metrics and more granular evaluation. Commissioner Ramsey reviewed program call data since HEART's inception and urged the court to rely on evaluations to guide expansion. He said that of about 16,300 HEART responses recorded to date, only a small share were "mission-driven essential" mental-health interventions and urged the court to study the calls to refine HEART's mission.

Barton said the county has an evaluation contract for HEART and expected the analysis to come to court in the coming weeks. She also said the county saw reductions in violent crime in some neighborhoods where HEART and complementary public-safety initiatives operate. "We want to get more granular data," Barton said, and described work with the research and analysis division to cross-check 9-1-1 and HEART call data.

The court approved the transfer and directed staff to provide evaluation details and metrics for measuring success going forward. The decision creates a county-managed mobile crisis response team that will operate alongside existing programs such as CERT (the Clinician-Emergency Responder Team) and VIPER policing partnerships rather than replacing them.

The county will continue to refine the program's protocols and reporting, and commissioners asked staff to return with the evaluation findings and suggested performance benchmarks.