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In the decade prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Houston’s Harris County reported one of the highest eviction rates in the country. Housing experts say the unusually high eviction rate is a reflection of just how little affordable housing there is across the metro.
The barriers to successfully building affordable housing are significant, and without major changes, the number of evictions will likely only increase, as more households succumb to financial distress caused by the pandemic.
A new federal administration in January, coupled with the Texas Legislature convening during the same month, may offer an opportunity for lawmakers to introduce measures that can help fund more affordable housing and create policies to address systemic problems that lead to evictions in the first place.
“Evictions cannot and should not be separated from the larger impact that they have on the evicted households, the broader housing system and society at large,” Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research Deputy Director Kyle Shelton said.
“The costs of stabilizing households, whether through rental assistance or other ways to alleviate debts/support households, will pale in comparison to the years of instability and economic impacts of not acting to support the households most in need of support.”
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Harris County evicted more households than nearly any other U.S. city, ranked only behind New York City’s five counties combined, according to an analysis of Eviction Lab data by the Kinder Institute.Harris County evicted 17,749 households, or 48.49 families…
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