Texas Housers, an NLIHC state partner, recently released its Local Policy Scorecards to assess how select cities and counties in Texas have allocated direct assistance resources and if they have created renter protections. The scorecards use an equity score to grade jurisdictions on how their response is impacting low-income communities. The goal of the scorecards is to ensure that funds are spent in a transparent, equitable way that effectively supports the state’s lowest-income tenants. This tool is one of several on “Keep Texans Housed,” a website designed by Texas Housers to track the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing justice.
San Antonio, for example, initially allocated $50.3 million for rent and legal assistance and added an additional $24.1 million after city officials determined the fund would be gone by the end of September. City officials are anticipating the remaining funds to last until mid-December. Houston allocated $15 million for rental assistance programs which was quickly claimed. The city has since added an additional $19 million to the program.
The scores for each locality are based on three components: financial assistance (50%), transparency of localities (25%), and legal protections for renters (25%). Financial assistance is comprised of all financial assistance available to households including rental assistance and assistance with utilities and other household needs. Transparency of localities is based on the degree to which local government is adhering to the Public Information Act and if they have a data dashboard showing how much money they have allocated for direct assistance. The third component, legal protections for renters, is calculated by evaluating what policies are currently enacted at the city and county level to protect renters from evictions.
Actions taken by local governments to keep Texans housed have varied widely. Harris County received the highest overall score and was given full points for financial assistance and transparency. Harris County opened their rental assistance program in August and has had over 42,000 tenants apply requesting over $60.2 million in assistance. Travis County also scored well with nearly full marks for financial assistance and full marks for legal protections. Those two counties alone account for 20% of the Texas population. Lubbock, Houston, Fort Worth, and El Paso were all given poor marks due to lack of financial assistance and few legal protections for renters facing eviction.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health disaster, so Texas Housers is tracking public funds the same way we have done after several hurricanes over the last 10 years,” said deputy director Christina Rosales. “We need to keep governments accountable for meeting this moment. A crisis has tragic consequences, but it’s an opportunity to push our governments respond to the need now and help communities recover so they are more resilient in the face of another disaster, whether it’s a pandemic, a hurricane, or wildfires.”
Texas Housers continues to utilize the scorecards to advocate for its 10 Point Plan to Protect Texas Tenants:
- Extend eviction moratorium
- Public funding of rental assistance
- Guarantee fairness and transparency in administration of public rent assistance
- Reduce evictions by reforming the eviction process
- Equalize state laws governing landlord & tenant rights
- Ensure competent, unbiased, knowledgeable eviction judges
- Increase the availability of rental housing affordable to households at greatest risk of eviction
- Rehouse people who are evicted
- Guarantee legal counsel to all low-income renters facing evictions
- Provide tenant rights information and landlord dispute counseling
For more information about Texas Housers and its work towards housing justice during COVID-19, visit: https://www.keeptexanshoused.org/ or contact: Christina Rosales, Texas Housers Deputy Director at [email protected]