Home To Homeless

The financial consequences of the pandemic have been slowing in recent weeks,  but ramping up when it comes to evictions. For nearly two years, families have struggled with record levels of illness, job loss, and financial hardship.  The federal government has worked to minimize the damage by providing financial assistance and, more importantly, protections from further consequences of pandemic debt. However, Many are now finding their problems have gone from bad to worse in a matter of minutes.

Evictions Rule In Court

In March of 2020, the federal government issued a nationwide eviction moratorium.  An eviction moratorium is a period of time in which the government halts all evictions. During an eviction moratorium, the government may enact laws that protect tenants from eviction, impose rent controls, and provide more housing specific financial assistance programs. During this time, tenants are protected from landlord harassment, and landlords are prohibited from evicting tenants.

In August of this year, tenant protection ended as the eviction moratorium expired. As a result, eviction court hearings are now packed with a backlog of evictions cases. In many cases, these court decisions take only minutes to process; forever changing the future of the tenant before their eyes. Matters are often made worse as the rental assistance programs cannot process applications in time to save some tenants from eviction.

Court rooms are processing eviction cases at a rate of 10 per hour; many of which are only past due balances less than $5000. Although the court makes decisions on these cases quickly, they do take into account how long the payments have been delinquent to the history of the landlord’s rental compliance. However, landlords are not required to participate in rental assistance programs, leaving some tenants with no choices even if they could find funding.

Help Your Home

If you are experiencing eviction or foreclosure, there are options to help. Contact our Houston bankruptcy law firm today. We can answer your questions and help you may an informed choice for your debt troubles.