Tarrant County scrapped Human Services. New contractor says $2M aid draining fast
Tarrant County’s new rent and utilities program managing company, Center For Transforming Lives, expects to run out of the $2 million of aid money before their contract expires, the nonprofit’s CEO Carol Klocek told commissioners Tuesday.
In August 2025, the county commissioners voted to eliminate the Human Services department and replaced it with the Center For Transforming Lives on Nov. 1. Since taking over, the nonprofit has distributed $887,074 in rent and utilities aid.
Human Services had a $4.5 million budget and gave out about $1.5 million of that to residents in need. Center For Transforming Lives was given a $2.3 million budget with $300,000 of that total designated for administrative costs.
Center For Transforming Lives expected to help 2,200 individuals during the one-year contract. Klocek said Center For Transforming Lives will likely fall short of that estimate because the nonprofit has seen more applicants who are two or three months behind on payments than they had initially anticipated.
Center For Transforming Lives’s applicant portal opens about every three weeks and stays open until 200 qualified applicants have submitted their request. The first time the portal was open, the threshold was hit in two hours. This last time, Klocek said, it was hit in 35 minutes.
Anyone who does not get on the list of 200 is given referrals to other avenues for assistance.
Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons called it a “horrible practice,” and Klocek explained that the nonprofit does not want to give any late or unqualified applicants false hope.
In the first five months, Center For Transforming Lives has helped 1,200 individuals across 440 households all over the county. The nonprofit estimates 1,000 households will be helped in the year-long contract. On average, clients receive about $3,000 for rent and about $400 for utilities per household, Klocek said.
From November 2024 to October 2025, Tarrant County’s Human Services department gave away just under $1.2 million and served a total of 691 households. For every dollar spent, 28 cents went to direct assistance.
For every dollar Center For Transforming Lives spends, 89 cents go to direct assistance.
This was exactly the goal, Republican Commissioners Manny Ramirez and Matt Krause said about the increased amount of help the nonprofit has been able to provide compared to the county’s program.
Klocek expects the nonprofit to distribute the $2 million of county-granted aid either by the end of September or the beginning of October, just short of the one-year mark.