Texans behind on their rent are at increasing risk of losing their homes despite a federal moratorium on evictions, according to housing attorneys, because a Texas Supreme Court order aimed at forestalling evictions has expired.
The nationwide order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention halting evictions through June 30 originally issued under the Trump administration has been an important bulwark against a housing crisis as people lost jobs and income during the pandemic, housing advocates say.
But an emergency order issued by the Texas Supreme Court that instructed judges across Texas how to follow the federal mandate expired March 31.
Michael Dwyer/AP Photo
Biden extended the CDC s eviction ban by three months, but some courts have ruled the ban illegal.
This puts renters at risk
of eviction before they get any of the nearly $50 billion in emergency aid
from Biden s stimulus.
Experts and lawmakers want to strengthen the ban so renters aren t evicted while it s in place.
President Joe Biden has been trying to help renters at risk of eviction, including with elements of his $1.9 trillion stimulus, but the American legal system may get in the way of that.
A year-long federal moratorium on evictions began under President Donald Trump, when he directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to oversee the ban during the pandemic. On his first day in office, Biden extended the ban by three months, and on March 29, two days before it was set to expire, he extended it by an additional three months, to June 30.
The Texas state supreme court has allowed an emergency order to expire. Housing groups warn that could result in thousands of people losing their homes to eviction. Tenants rights advocates, like those pictured here in Boston, have pushed for stronger protections for renters during the pandemic. Image: Michael Dwyer/AP
The Texas state court system is signaling that it will no longer enforce a federal order aimed at stopping evictions during the coronavirus pandemic. That could clear the way for landlords to push ahead with tens of thousands of eviction cases that have been on hold.
The timing could be particularly painful for many families, coming after Congress has approved billions of dollars to help people pay the rent they owe to avoid eviction, but before the vast majority of renters have been able to receive any of that money.
Texas courts to allow pre-pandemic evictions to resume Print this article
The Texas state court system is allowing evictions to resume as the state winds down a series of directives it put in place last year at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Texas Supreme Court at the end of March did not extend an order that placed an indefinite moratorium on evictions. The court noted on its website that, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has extended its moratorium through the end of June, the state has no plans to do the same. The CDC order has been extended three times since the Trump administration put it in place last September.
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