In ZIP codes in the Southwest Austin and Dripping Springs area, those with greater percentages of minorities experienced higher eviction rates. MAPPING EVICTIONS
increase, and that’s only going to compromise our local economy and our community even further,” said Pilar Sanchez, Travis County health and human services executive. Filings trend upward Between March and April 2020, eviction filings in Travis County plunged 96% as local orders aimed at delaying evictions went into effect, according to data from Princeton Uni- versity’s Eviction Lab. The county of nearly 1.3 million people historically saw well over 100 eviction cases filed each week, figures that dropped to around several dozen. In late 2021, those numbers began gradually rising as the CDC’s national eviction ban expired, according to Eviction Lab data. At least 2,300 eviction filings were logged in total from April 2020 through December 2021, an average of just over 110 per month. However, 2,517 filings have been tracked so far in 2022—more than 50% of Travis Coun- ty’s pandemic-era total in just three months. The number of filings grew from464 in January to 1,060 inMarch. “We are almost at where we were before the pandemic, but instead we are reeling from skyrocketing rent prices and people who are barely able to get recovered [from the pandemic],” said Mincho Jacob, communications coordinator for the tenant support organization Building and Strengthen- ing Tenant Action, or BASTA. At the same time, local assistance programs that saw high demand in recent months are drying up. Travis County closed its rental assistance program in March, just a week after reopening it, due to demand. “What we’re seeing is an affordabil- ity crisis that’s only been compounded by the pandemic,” Sanchez said. “… Rental prices here in Austin have increased tremendously, and people
can just not afford to pay their rent.” U.S. Housing and Urban Develop- ment fair market rent estimates for the Austin metropolitan area rose more than 10% between fiscal years 2019 and 2022. According to data from real estate brokerage Redfin, average monthly rent in Austin has jumped more than 40% in the past year alone. While much of the spotlight on the evictions front is on tenants, land- lords, especially those of smaller properties, have also been burdened by recent trends. Emily Blair, executive vice presi- dent with the Austin Apartment Asso- ciation, said direct assistance proved to be the “best solution” across the industry by keeping money flowing through renters to property owners. But holds on eviction proceedings also left some without their custom- ary source of income. “Rental housing providers have to recover some of those losses at some point, and a good portion of the rental housing rates are definitely affected by the rental housing losses that we incurred in the last two years,” Met- ric Property Management President Lyndsay Hanes said. Days in court In Texas, eviction policy has his- torically been viewed as tilted toward property owners—although recent changes could leave some lasting effects on that balance. After receiving a notice to vacate, prompted by anything from failure to pay rent to lease violations, Texas ten- ants have three days to move out, or an eviction lawsuit can be filed. Legal proceedings could then take several weeks to resolve and, before 2020, usually resulted in an eviction. Nick Chu, justice of the peace for central Travis County’s Precinct 5, said around 95% of eviction cases he hears involve late payment of rent.
Number of evictions since Jan. 2020
251-300
101-150
51-100
0-50
201-250
151-200
71
78735
78736
35
78620
78749 78745
78737
290
78739
183
78748
78747
MOPAC
N
ZIP code
Racial majority
Evictions since Jan. ‘20
Rent increase% over five years
78620
White
2
6.25%
78735
White
30
19.31%
78736
White
22
13.07%
78737
White
4
83.19%
78739
White
4
15.96%
78745
Other
279
15.04%
78747
Hispanic
103
20%
78748
Other
172
10.79%
78749
White
57
6.45%
SOURCES: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY EVICTION LAB, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
medical events during the pandemic. Some local officials and advocates are working to ensure the scaling down of protections do not result in longer-lasting fallout for renters. “It sounds like evictions are going to skyrocket and continue to
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eviction moratoriums suppressed the number, the underlying housing issues were further exacerbated by fiscal hardships for many residents who lost income or faced other economic and
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