Austin, Travis County Extends Tenant Protections Amid Coronavirus

AUSTIN, TX — Austin and Travis County officials extended eviction protections to Feb. 1, 2021, to allow tenants behind on rent remain in their homes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“We know the efforts taken by the City of Austin and Travis County to protect tenants from eviction during this pandemic are working to keep our community more safe,” Travis County Judge Andy Brown said in a prepared statement. “In the next few weeks, many Travis County families will be celebrating holidays, a vaccine will become available for our community, and at the same time increasing COVID cases continue to be a challenge. Now is not the time to roll back these important protections. We must continue to make the health and safety of our community our number one priority.”

Austin Mayor Steve Adler painted the protections as a life-saving measure: "The data show eviction actions like ours have saved many lives during this pandemic. As we cautiously enter the holiday season, Travis County Judge Andy Brown and I are extending eviction protections in the interest of public health, while also further pursuing changes to better address the impact on landlords,” he said.

The Travis County Justice of the Peace, Nicholas Chu, said the step not only helps control community spread of the respiratory illness virus but staves off a potential housing crisis. "City, county and court officials have worked very hard in trying to create a comprehensive strategy so that this public health crisis isn’t exacerbated by a housing crisis,” said Chu, whose court docket includes eviction cases in Travis County. “I would commend Austin and Travis County leaders for working together to help save lives as we face a pandemic that not only affects people’s health but also their ability to make a living.”

In extending the protections, officials cited research showing that evictions have been tied to hundreds of thousands of additional COVID-19 cases in cities not offering such safeguards. Additionally, data from the Princeton University Eviction Lab shows U.S. cities with additional protections for renters, such as Austin, saw far fewer evictions filed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Austin, officials noted, leads big cities in Texas in the lowest pandemic-related evictions and has some of the fewest filings in the nation.

• Austin: 725 eviction filings since March 15.
• Fort Worth: 9,266 eviction filings since March 15.
• Houston: 18,299 eviction filings since March 15.
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The research shows protections such as those enacted by Austin/Travis County’s are life-saving measures, officials said. To buttress the point, officials noted Travis County has the lowest death rate of counties with big cities in Texas:

• Travis County: 39.1 deaths/100,000
• Tarrant County: 56.7 deaths/100,000
• Dallas County: 66 deaths/100,000
• Harris County: 67.1 deaths/100,000
• Bexar County: 79 deaths/100,000
• Lubbock County: 150 deaths/100,000
• El Paso County: 166 deaths/100,000

This action comes after the Austin City Council unanimously passed an ordinance, sponsored by council Member Greg Casar, extending the applicability period and expiration date in requiring notices of proposed evictions during the Dec. 10, city council meeting. The city council launched the $12.9 million Relief of Emergency Needs for Tenants (RENT) program this fall and just approved $2M for additional rental assistance during the Dec. 10 city council Meeting.