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Houston city council just unanimously passed an eviction grace period ordinance for the first time during the pandemic. The question is who will be protected and for how long? It's complicated let me explain.
Here are the key sections of the ordinance they passed this morning:
this thread will be ~coming in slow~ cause ERCOT broke my cell service so apologies for the unintended suspense
Under the new ordinance, a landlord cannot initiate any eviction proceedings (with exceptions for violence etc) and crucially they *cannot post a notice to vacate*. BUT they decided this protection only applies to people who are covered by the CDC order AND get a form to landlord
The grace period ordinance expires on 3/31 (when the CDC order is set to expire...but people think CDC is likely to be extended) and this is important: they specify that the grace period will expire "irrespective of whether the CDC Order is extended or modified beyond that date"
Deciding the grace period only applies to people covered by CDC is complicated. I watch courts and many (most?) renters don't know their rights. Landlords are filing cases arguing renters aren't actually covered; there's no clear procedure for judges (story coming on this soon).
This order takes effect immediately and expires in six weeks. My questions: how long do you think it takes to get word out to people who barely have internet/phone, no printer, are totally worn out from a year of pandemic? Will people even know they're protected before it expires
The fact that people are only protected by this grace period if they get a printed form to their landlord while we're in an indefinite power outage almost sounds like a joke but it's not funny because eviction can be life threatening especially 1. in this weather 2. in a pandemic
This order *theoretically* stops notices to vacate - which is crucial bc so many people self-evict at that point to avoid court. But given reality that many dont know their rights, how many renters will get a printed CDC form to the landlord *before* a notice to vacate is posted?
I don't see anything in this order that halts evictions for the thousands of Houston renters who already have a case filed and will have hearings over the 6 weeks this grace period is set to last.
Basing the grace period ordinance on a CDC order that we know is only stopping ~10% of evictions in Houston is a significant choice the city made. https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/city-of-houston/2020/12/20/388131/the-cdc-eviction-moratorium-has-stopped-less-than-10-percent-of-cases/
I realize it was an urgent item for the city to pass this week (even though they haven't passed it over the...*checks notes*...past year) but it was surreal to see council vote in a power outage with barely any public comment, no discussion, council members struggling to connect
