Fort Worth renters get reprieve from Congress. Here’s how the stimulus deal will help
Tarrant County renters facing eviction will have at least a few more weeks of protection. And city and county government, which saw a deluge in applications for rental assistance in the last month, will have more time to spend the federal funds reserved for the payments.
The extensions are part of a $900 million stimulus package Congress finished negotiating on Sunday. Assuming it passes, the deal will assist renters and landlords in two ways.
▪ The CDC Declaration, originally set to expire at the end of the year, now lasts until Jan. 31. The declaration applies to any renter who expects to make less than $99,000 in 2020 (or $198,000 for a joint filing), has faced loss of income or work and has made efforts to procure outside funding and made efforts to set up a payment plan with a landlord. By signing a declaration and turning it into their landlord and Justice Peace of the Court, renters facing eviction can delay their eviction hearing until after Jan. 31. And all eviction cases for renters who have previously filed declarations cannot be adjudicated until after Jan. 31.
After receiving $210 million in federal funding from the CARES Act, Tarrant County allotted $10 million for rental assistance (residents living in Tarrant but not in Fort Worth were eligible). So far it has given about $3.6 million to 850 households, and payments worth $622,000 are pending for another 188 households. That leaves about $6 million remaining — but with around 3,000 households waiting for it.
The majority of those households, 2,600, are waiting on required landlord approval, according to Kristen Camareno, who is overseeing the program for Tarrant County. The applications have been taking about two to five weeks to process, depending on the completeness of the application and the willingness of the landlord to participate.
Although the federal extension gives extra breathing room for spending the money, Camareno said Tarrant County had set up a plan to ensure the county could provide rental assistance to households that had applied by Dec. 9, even with the previous Dec. 30 expiration for CARES funds. She anticipates Tarrant County will spend the entire $10 million it allotted for rental assistance.
Renters living in Fort Worth have applied for rental assistance through the city rather than the county. Fort Worth allotted $8.9 million in federal CARES funds for rental assistance, and nearly all of that money has been spent, according to Victor Turner, Fort Worth’s neighborhood services director. Some $5.9 million went to housing-related nonprofits and NGOs. Another $3 million was used for direct rental payments. As of Dec. 1, nearly 1,500 households had been assisted, and Turner said about $280,000 in assistance money remained as of Dec. 15.
With deadlines extended, another question remains: How much more federal funding will Fort Worth and Tarrant County receive for rental assistance? The new congressional deal set aside $25 billion for rental assistance, which will be dispersed to states and then potentially to local governments. It’s unclear how much Tarrant and Fort Worth may receive. Democratic lawmakers had been pushing for as much as $100 billion in rental assistance in a failed stimulus plan known as the HEROES Act.
Even with assistance being given by the city and county — and with the CDC Declaration in effect, which should cover nearly every renter facing eviction over nonpayment of rent — Tarrant County has seen anywhere from 200 to 600 eviction filings a week in the last few months. That level is not far off pre-COVID averages.
And housing and tenants rights advocates remain concerned for when the protections run out. Unless more rental assistance money is awarded and made easily available, they believe renters will be forced out en masse, and landlords, not collecting any rental payments, will default.
“The huge fear is that as these protections end — if these protections end — the floodgates are going to be open,” said Sandy Rollins, executive director of the Texas Tenants’ Union.
Tips for renters who need assistance
▪ Access a CDC Declaration. If you are eligible, you may sign the declaration and turn in copies to your landlord and the courts will be barred from hearing your eviction case until after Jan. 31. If your landlord has started the eviction process, you may still turn in a CDC Declaration to your landlord and to the Justice of the Peace Court holding your eviction hearing to have the hearing delayed until after Jan. 31.
▪ A notice to vacate is not an eviction. It begins the process and does not force you to immediately leave your home. An eviction can only be carried out if signed by a court. And if a landlord does not provide a notice to vacate, the landlord may not begin an eviction process.
If you are at risk of losing your apartment, contact the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition. For legal help with an eviction, contact Legal Aid Northwest Texas.
This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
