Harris County constables are joined by Harris County commissioners and law-enforcement labor leaders to discuss pay raises for constable deputies on Thursday, May 22, 2025.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
If Harris County’s proposed $3.1 billion budget is a declaration of what our county leaders value, the message is clear as bayou water.
County commissioners are staring down a multi-million-dollar deficit and wrestling with an estimated 12% jump in spending. They’re asking homeowners to brace for a property tax hike — one Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey warns could be one of the largest in county history.
Commissioners will discuss the budget on Sept. 8. We encourage Harris County residents to let commissioners know what they think before then.
The next regular Harris County Commissioners Court meeting where the public can comment is on Aug. 25, at 9:00 AM at 1001 Preston St., Houston, TX. You can sign up for a one-minute slot to speak in person here: https://appearancerequest.harriscountytx.gov/ (Sign-ups close one hour prior to the start of the meeting.)
Or you can submit digital comments directly to court members by emailing: CommissionersCourt@harriscountytx.gov
And just where would our hard-earned cash be going?
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In large part, to law enforcement coffers. Pay parity raises matching county officers’ salaries to the Houston Police Department’s account for $78.5 million of the total $327 million expense increase. Our eight elected constables, for instance, will now be pocketing a cool $305,000 each after their fourth raise in just three years.
Meanwhile, a meager $1 million in recurring general fund dollars is slated for eviction prevention programs — legal aid and rental assistance — that could keep thousands of Houstonians in their homes. That contradicts the county’s own strategic budget goals, which rank “housing stability” and building “a just, safe county” at the very top.
Paying constables HPD-level salaries would make sense if they actually did HPD-level work. But they aren’t automatically dispatched to 911 calls in their precincts. They don’t generally deal with homicides or other violent crimes. They do neighborhood patrols, vacation check-ins and eviction enforcement.
It’s a lopsided investment strategy: We’re generously funding the constables tasked with kicking people from their homes, yet we remain hesitant to fully commit to the diversion programs that could prevent evictions in the first place.
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“There have been no simple solutions,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia emphasized during the budget presentation on Monday. “It hasn’t been an easy process.”
The fiscal choice, though, is stark. Most Houston households are renters, and nearly half in Harris County rent as well. Families across the county remain just one missed paycheck or minor crisis away from being kicked to the curb by the officers now making enough to buy luxurious second homes.
Why aren’t county commissioners doing more to help those families?
The legal and logistical maze of eviction is where housing stability goes to die. Most of the county’s 16 justice of the peace courts operate as nonstop eviction assembly lines, handling a staggering 76,000 filings a year. An eviction can mark a person’s record for years, complicating any future attempt to find a safe, affordable place to live. Most judges’ rulings take seconds. Some a few minutes. Landlord errors go ignored. Renter defenses never get a proper hearing.
Yet, a common-sense alternative exists.
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As one of our columnists recently highlighted, Judge Steve Duble’s Precinct 1, Place 2 court offers a rare lifeline. Two weeks before a docket, his eviction diversion facilitator, Loreta Kovacic, picks up the phone. She calls tenants, checks their eligibility for rental aid and asks landlords whether they would accept it.
It’s basic, human problem-solving. And it works. Paired with Judge Dolores Lozano’s court — the only other JP court with an eviction diversion program — these simple outreach calls have funneled $800,000 in county rental assistance to 200 households over the last year alone.
In these cases, landlords get their back rent. Families keep a roof over their heads. And often, the eviction is dismissed altogether.
The catch, though, is that their win-win model reaches only a tiny fraction of the county.
Duble handles a manageable 1,500 eviction cases a year, whereas a single Katy-area judge is swamped with 25,600. That grotesquely uneven caseload is a political choice.
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Harris County’s JP precincts are bound to constable precinct lines, which means changing them could affect constable budgets. For decades, commissioners have punted on adjusting the lines even as our county’s suburban population has soared.
Bringing eviction diversion to all 16 JP courts would be a heavy lift, one that requires buy-in from each elected judge. Instead, the county should establish a centralized, pre-court eviction diversion and navigation hub within the Harris County Housing and Community Development department.
The hub could deliver targeted diversion to the elderly and households with children. And it could focus on the precincts with the biggest caseloads first.
County commissioners should help standardize the basic reforms the two judges have demonstrated: early outreach, court date reminders, and a real attempt at resolution before court. Even when rental aid isn’t available, these steps help get tenants to show up to courts.
Instead of a default judgment for the landlord, the tenant at least has a shot at, say, prorated back rent or getting a little time to find a new home. In Duble and Lozano’s courts, their facilitators’ simple calls halved default rates. Those little differences can help prevent a spiral into poverty and even street homelessness.
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Consider that the original grant funding that covered Duble and Lozano’s diversion pilot cost only $400,000 over three years. That’s less than the combined yearly salaries of just two of our highly paid elected constables.
County officials insist this budget is about difficult choices. Fair enough. Here’s an easy one: Continue paying constables to enforce lawful court orders, but spend a reasonable fraction to prevent unnecessary orders in the first place.
What should Harris County prioritize: enforcing evictions or preventing more families from reaching that point?
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