Houston is now the largest US city where evictions will resume after statewide moratorium was lifted in Texas
- The Texas Supreme Court has lifted its statewide moratorium on evictions, making Houston the largest US city where evictions may start escalating, NPR reported.
- Some major Texas cities like Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas are still protected from evictions by city or county ordinances.
- Texas currently has a state record-high unemployment rate of 12.8% with over 2 million residents filing for unemployment since the start of the pandemic, the Texas Tribune reported.
The Texas' Supreme Court has lifted its moratorium on evictions, making Houston the largest US city where evictions may start escalating again, NPR reported.
Eviction hearings were allowed to resume as soon as May 19, and evictions could start taking place on May 26, according to the Supreme Court of Texas.
A handful of the state's cities — like Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas — are still protected from evictions by city or county ordinances for several more weeks. But residents in major Texas cities like Houston, which has a population of over 2.3 million, and Fort Worth, which houses over 900,000 people, no longer have these same protections.
Some renters are still protected by a nationwide moratorium under the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act until Aug. 23 so long as the mortgage on the buildings is federally backed. However, Urban.org estimates that only about 28% of properties across the US are covered by the CARES Act.
Texas currently has an unemployment rate of 12.8%, and over 2 million state residents have filed for unemployment since the start of the pandemic, the Texas Tribune reported.
"We anticipate that there will be a tsunami of evictions filed," Lone Star Legal Aid, the fourth largest legal aid provider in the US, attorney Dana Karni told NPR. "I have no doubt about it, we are going to see homelessness."
Texas' eviction moratorium lift has comes sooner than other states that have also implemented an eviction ban.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom put a moratorium on evictions through May 31, although Los Angeles and San Diego have already independently extended this eviction ban. New York has also extended its moratorium for coronavirus-related evictions until Aug. 20, according to a statement by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Florida's moratorium was also extended until June 2, Spectrum Bay News 9 reported.
But in some states, the expiration date of the eviction ban hasn't been announced yet. This includes Illinois, where evictions won't be allowed until the state has lifted its Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamation, which was first announced on March 9.