Houston is now the largest US city where evictions will resume after statewide moratorium was lifted

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

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.

https://news.yahoo.com/houston-now-largest-us-city-195628933.html

[procon]

1. So they evict everyone... then what?

We now have 30+ million people unemployed and little chance that old jobs will still be available, let alone the prospect of any new jobs. Trump and his party have already said they will not sign off on any new financial aid bills to help people.

People have no money. Even if the landlords throw their tenants out on the street, and have money to regard their units, there's no replacement renters because everyone is impacted the same.

The potential secondary problems such as crime, violence, disease, food and shelter, will have a far worse economic impact on these cities and their shortsighted politicians bargained for.

[Turbineguy]

2. Property values will drop.