Health Department FY27 Budget Workshop - May 14, 2026
Health Department FY27 Budget Workshop - May 14, 2026
The City of Houston Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee held day three of budget workshops on May 14, 2026, focusing on the Health Department's proposed FY27 budget. Health Department Director Teresa Tran and Darren Asher presented a comprehensive overview, highlighting a strategic realignment of funds, heavy reliance on grants, and the department's role as a public health safety net. Council members asked detailed questions on funding sustainability, program effectiveness, and coordination with other city departments. Two members of the public testified in support of increased funding for the department.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jack Valinski urged more funding for the Health Department, noting that most multi-service centers (except new ones) are in "deplorable state" with frequent air conditioning failures. He emphasized the continued importance of HIV services and the need to support the department as federal funding declines.
- Laura Gallier shared a personal anecdote about a homeless friend who was hospitalized for nine months due to lack of a discharge destination, underscoring the high return on investment for medical respite services. She expressed support for the proposed medical respite program.
Discussion Items
- Budget Realignment: Director Tran explained a $10.5 million reduction in general fund expenditures by moving programs like C to Succeed and TB Rapid Treatment to the general fund (increasing general fund by $3.29M) and shifting other services (Vital Statistics, Oral Health, Medical Services) to special revenue funds, hoping to generate revenue. The 2010 fund, which supports clinical services, is projected to run out of money in two years if revenue does not increase.
- Reliance on Grant Funding: Only 22% of the department's operating budget (about $41M) comes from the general fund; 55% comes from special revenue and grants. Of 1,390 employees, only 214 are general fund-supported, leaving 718 grant-funded employees who face uncertainty about job continuity. Approximately 60% of grant funding is federal, with a major concern over the Public Health Infrastructure Grant ending in November 2027.
- Program Highlights: Director Tran highlighted environmental health services (restaurant/ pool inspections, EMS regulation, apartment complaint investigations), disease prevention (TB, HIV clinics, epidemiology), reentry and youth violence prevention (75–80 graduates per six-month cycle with 10% recidivism vs. state average 20%), multi-service center operations, chronic disease prevention, and the My Brother's Keeper program.
- Medical Respite: The department has earmarked $1.6 million in the FY27 budget from the 2010 fund for leasing apartments for a medical respite center, in partnership with the city's plan to end street homelessness. An exclusive negotiating agreement is in place, but services funding is still being sought.
- Councilmember Questions: Committee members asked about air quality monitors (Roger Seely noted gaps and affordable Clarity monitors at $1,200/year each), naloxone supply, coordination with other departments on truancy and youth programs (Deputy Director confirmed ongoing conversations), the status of lead abatement (still active, fully grant-funded), and the sustainability of oral health and vital statistics programs under special revenue (possible fee increases or partnerships with FQHCs).
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes or decisions were taken during this informational workshop.
- Director Tran committed to continuing deep dives into programs and exploring revenue generation for clinical services.
- The committee noted the presentation and will follow up with written questions.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to day three of our budget workshops. We are happy this day to have health, municipal courts, hits and ARA and HR today. So we will be action-packed. Starting us off today is the Health Department. And I would like to welcome Health Department Director Teresa Tran and Darren Asher to present their proposed FY27 budget presentation. And I'd like to welcome my colleagues. I have my Vice Chair Mario Castillo, staff from Councilmember Twila Carter's office, Vice Mayor Pro Tem Amy Peck, staff from Mayor Pro Tem Casatex Tatum's office, Councilmember Julian Ramirez, staff from Councilmember Charcia Jackson's office, Abby Kayman's office, and Fred Flickinger's office. So welcome everyone and Director Tran, the floor is yours. Thank you so much, Chair Alcorn and everybody for um in a in a advance for your attention. I'm really glad that we're at the beginning of the day and not your like four o'clock presentation. So I wanted to recognize our health department team, our executive team sitting right here behind us. And then they just became members of the health department, but um Victor with finance and Mr. Velinski, who used to work for the city. So really uh this budget presentation is going to show you that we're a department with a vision and a plan for this administration and whatever administration comes after. So we can go to the next slide. And there's our table of contents. Next slide. Okay, our organizational chart, as you can see, I have nine direct reports. All of them are at the assistant director or um the deputy assistant director level. Our deputy public health authority who has been, you know, really the person who's taught me how to become the public health authority is Dr. Janina White. We've got our Chief Communications Officer Tucker Wilson. Our Chief Science Officer, Dr. Lauren Hopkins is one of the premier chief um environmental scientists in the nation. We're very grateful to have her at the department. Mrs. Moore is uh the direct deputy director and our chief of staff. Um, and then we have um Dr. Renita Madu, who's over public health infrastructure chronic disease quality, strategic planning. Um, Mr. Roger Seely, who many of you have been in contact with because he's over environmental health, and that includes consumer health and also our epidemiology and lab programs. Um, Ms. Naomi Masias, who is our director over public health services, and that's our clinics and patient-facing services such as the multi-service centers, and then our bureaus of immunization uh tuberculosis and HIV. Um, Mark Seal is our um C our chief technology officer, probably one of the best, I think, in the city. Um, and then Amber Haig is our assistant. Oh, oops, I I skipped Lishonda Mallory Horn, who's our assistant director over human services. Thanks, Darren. Uh and she she is overseeing our re-entry program, our violence prevention, youth health, and uh WIC and AAA programs. Uh, Amber Haig is over operation support, so all of the procurement and grants and um the billing that we have to do and as well as human resource needs, and then of course, Darren Asher over administrative services, which includes not only um finance, but logistics and grant administration and all of the administration it takes for us to actually run our department. If I might interrupt you just a second to welcome a couple more people and also to say as I went through your budget, uh I noticed all of the restructuring. You've done a lot of restructuring, and it seems to make a lot of sense to me. So I hope that you'll you'll go into that some um during your budget presentation. I do want to welcome um staff from council member Alejandra Salinas. Perfect and anyone else. Okay. Um yes, you will see that our so our restructuring process is hopefully going to be completed by the end of the year. It starts with financial restructuring, and it will then proceed after I'm done with my deep dives and um understanding deeply what all of the programs are, what they mean to the city, and whether they belong in public health or not. We will uh continue and finish our restructuring. Um, and we may need more things. I don't know that yet until I do all of my deep dives.
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