Housing advocates and local elected officials are bracing for the end of a federal moratorium on evictions that could displace thousands of vulnerable people just as rents are soaring to record highs and unemployment benefits have been slashed.
Data suggests that Texas renters sit in a particularly precarious position, and advocates say lifting the protection threatens to slow the economic recovery for renters, especially those in lower-income, mostly Black and Latino neighborhoods.
Nearly a third of Texas tenants compared with a quarter of those nationally who have little or no confidence in their ability to pay next month’s rent, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey from July.
The federal government banned landlords from evicting tenants for not paying rent in September 2020, partly based on the concern that displaced renters would more easily spread COVID-19.
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