Although a moratorium on evictions has been extended, fair housing officials in Dallas are trying to stave off the possibility of evictions and homelessness.
DALLAS – Editor’s Note: The above video from a previous story about the Dallas Emergency Relief Program.
Although a moratorium on evictions related to COVID has been extended, fair housing officials in Dallas are trying to stave off the possibility of an “avalanche” of evictions and homelessness when the ban expires.
“The possibility of an avalanche is great and real,” said Priscylla Bento, policy manager for the Dallas City Office of Equity and Inclusion. “But we have the opportunity to mitigate this avalanche if we can continue to efficiently enforce rent relief.”
The eviction ban from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was due to expire on July 31, but following a request from the White House, the agency extended it to October 3 in areas where COVID rates remain high, including Texas.
A federal judge on Friday denied an application by landlord groups to block the CDC’s new moratorium. More than 11 million Americans are behind on their rent, according to the Census Household Pulse Survey. This increases the risk of an eviction if the federal moratorium expires.
RELATED: Millions of dollars available through the Dallas County HHS Housing Emergency Program
In Texas, 619,061 tenant households were behind by the end of July – 6,734 more than in June, according to Zillow Group Inc. The online real estate market estimates that more than 335,000 tenant households in Texas are currently evicted, 80,514 more than in June.
While evictions and applications are difficult to predict, Zillow estimates 50,810 applications in Texas and 23,718 are likely to result in evictions.
Slightly more than 39% of those who are behind with their rent believe that they are very likely to be evicted, while 26% are more likely to be evicted, 20% are not very likely, and 15% say eviction is not at all likely. a Zillow poll found.
The number of tenants at risk, filings and actual evictions has increased since June, Zillow notes.
Dallas County’s evictions fell sharply when evictions across Texas were suspended in March 2020.
Public health and fair housing officials fear that if the ban is lifted, a potential clearance crisis will result in higher COVID-19 infection rates, especially as new variants emerge.
Dallas County had about 1,900 eviction requests in July, compared to about 4,000 in January 2020 just before the pandemic hit the state.
“The concern we have is that we will return to those pre-COVID numbers,” Bento said. “When we come back to this, we have the opportunity and potential for people to go out in the middle of a pandemic. As we all know, the delta variant is increasing rapidly from day to day.
RELATED: Nearly 1.5 million Texans have “no” or “little” confidence that they can make the rent
Bento said data from the North Texas regional home valuation show evictions historically coincide with the racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty.
“You will be hit hard,” she said. Low-income tenants who are evicted are often forced into substandard housing in lower-income areas with higher crime rates, according to the Brookings Institution research group. Evictions result in a variety of societal costs and other ills, including increased use of emergency rooms, more suicides, homelessness, decreased access to credit, food insecurity and more challenges in academic performance, according to Brookings. The COVID pandemic has also exacerbated historical racial and ethnic inequalities in housing construction and disproportionately affects tenant households.
Dallas’ Office of Equity and Inclusion and the Office of Community Care are working together to host educational events over the next two months, Bento said. The city is also partnering with others, including the United Way and the Dallas Housing Authority, which offers rent reduction opportunities at dallasrentrelief.com, Bento said.
“The biggest focus is not necessarily on worrying about the end of a moratorium, but rather on providing rental advice and legal services effectively and efficiently so we can help people because the moratorium will end sooner rather than later,” she said.
The city of Dallas passed an ordinance in April requiring landlords to warn tenants of a possible eviction and protect them if their financial hardship is related to COVID. Tenants have 21 days after the termination to prove hardship caused by COVID. Then another 39 days to make a payment plan agreement with the landlord.
Landlords and their proponents argued in April that the regulation would be unfair to landlords who cover maintenance, repairs, taxes and other expenses.
Balancing landlord and tenant needs is difficult but crucial, Bento said.
“It’s easy to make the landlord the bad guy, but everyone’s in a fix right now,” she said. “Our goal is not to play someone off against each other. Our goal is not to form one team against another team. We’re really trying to work together to meet everyone’s needs. “
“The last resort is legal services because people will be evicted in court, but we’re trying to mitigate this,” added Bento. “We’re trying to help people bridge that communication gap before that happens.” For more resources from the City of Dallas for tenants at risk of eviction, click here.
[ad_1]
