HOUSTON, Texas It s been a rough year for Elsa Ramírez.
The Houston woman lost the financial and emotional support of her husband, who was deported. She was infected with COVID-19, forcing her to isolate for two weeks and lose hours as a seamstress.
But despite falling behind on rent, she and her three kids have managed to stay housed in her two-bedroom apartment thanks to a federal eviction moratorium. With that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directive about to end when 2020 does, though, Texans like Ramírez are again facing a dire cliff. Without relatives or friends in Houston to stay with, Ramírez has no plan for where she ll go if she loses her apartment.
An eviction moratorium expires at the end of the month, but thousands of Texans are still not able to afford rent
Texas Tribune
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Credit: Briana Vargas for The Texas Tribune
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It’s been a rough year for Elsa Ramírez.
The Houston woman lost the financial and emotional support of her husband, who was deported. She was infected with COVID-19, forcing her to isolate for two weeks and lose hours as seamstress.
But despite falling behind on rent, she and her three kids have managed to stay housed in her two-bedroom apartment thanks to a federal eviction moratorium. With that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directive about to end when 2020 does, though, Texans like Ramírez are again facing a dire cliff. Without relatives or friends in Houston to stay with, Ramírez has no plan for where she’ll go if she loses her apartment.
Elsa Ramírez and her daughters Josseline, 11, and Francheska, 4, have managed to stay housed in their two-bedroom Houston apartment thanks to a federal eviction moratorium that expires at the end of the month. Credit: Briana Vargas for The Texas Tribune
Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
It’s been a rough year for Elsa Ramírez.
The Houston woman lost the financial and emotional support of her husband, who was deported. She was infected with COVID-19, forcing her to isolate for two weeks and lose hours as seamstress.
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Elsa Ramírez and her daughters Josseline, 11, and Francheska, 4, have managed to stay housed in their two-bedroom Houston apartment thanks to a federal eviction moratorium that expires at the end of the month.
It’s been a rough year for Elsa Ramírez.
The Houston woman lost the financial and emotional support of her husband, who was deported. She was infected with COVID-19, forcing her to isolate for two weeks and lose hours as seamstress.
But despite falling behind on rent, she and her three kids have managed to stay housed in her two-bedroom apartment thanks to a federal eviction moratorium. With that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directive about to end when 2020 does, though, Texans like Ramírez are again facing a dire cliff. Without relatives or friends in Houston to stay with, Ramírez has no plan for where she’ll go if she loses her apartment.
Sundance Apartments was contacted multiple times via phone call for this story but did not respond.
Nearly 1 million Americans are evicted each year according to national estimatesâa process proven to result in severe financial, emotional and physical stress and long-term ramifications that can affect tenantsâ ability to find housing again.
In San Marcos, 540 apartment tenants had evictions filed against them in 2018. In 2019, that number increased to 673 tenantsâa 24% increase, according to Hays County Justice of the Peace court records. Prior to the pandemic, 2020 was on track for a similar increase before the U.S. government halted most evictions.
The implementation of the 120-day CARES Act eviction moratorium March 27 paused evictions in federally-subsidized housing, covering between 12.3 and 19.9 million households. After the moratorium expired in July, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued its own eviction moratorium Sept. 4, set to