August Unemployment Rate in Texas Drops
The U.S. Labor Department on Friday announced Texas' unemployment rate for August was 6.8%, underscoring a summer of large and steady numbers of jobless Texans.
August unemployment rate in Texas drops to 6.8% from 8% in July
"August unemployment rate in Texas drops to 6.8% from 8% in July" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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Six months after the coronavirus pandemic began choking the economy, Texas' unemployment rate in August was 6.8% — a sign the state's economy has improved from the spring months, but is still suffering.
The Texas rate, announced by the U.S. Labor Department, is down from 8% in July and an even starker improvement from April and May when Gov. Greg Abbott closed or limited in-person commerce across the state.
But after Abbott sought to reenergize the flailing economy by allowing businesses to reopen, the coronavirus spread rapidly through Texas, eventually leading Abbott to reverse some of his economic decisions. And in late August and early September, after weeks of declining numbers of Texans applying for unemployment relief, that trend reversed.
Now, the new economic data helps paint a more clear picture of the recession in Texas — the economy has made progress from the dreadful early months of the pandemic, but economists said the data underscores a large and steady number of jobless Texans over the summer months.
“We were mostly stagnant,” Michael Carroll, director of the Economics Research Group at the University of North Texas, told The Texas Tribune.
On Thursday, in another attempt to energize the economy, Abbott again began loosening restrictions for restaurants and other businesses in most regions of Texas. Retail stores, restaurants and office buildings, which have been allowed to open at 50% capacity, will be permitted to expand to 75% capacity. Hospitals will be allowed to offer elective procedures again and nursing homes can reopen for visitations under certain standards.
It’s too soon to tell what impact Abbott’s moves will have on the economy, but Tim Fitzgerald, an economist at Texas Tech University, hopes the trend of Texans entering the workforce continues.
“Today’s report is a good sign for the economy and indicates there’s more labor force participation and more employment across the state,” Fitzgerald, who worked on the Council of Economic Advisers during the Trump administration, told The Texas Tribune. “Now, the future course of the virus is obviously going to be important."
The state's failure to control the coronavirus, which has left more than 14,000 Texans dead, means a strong economic resurgence, however, will have to wait, economists said. Nearly 2 million people across the state are still collecting unemployment relief and The Texas Workforce Commission has struggled to keep up.
Despite the agency’s woes, many unemployed Texans who were able to receive unemployment benefits during the spring and summer also received an additional $600 a week as part of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act legislation approved by Congress, which expired in July.
“The CARES Act was predicated on a two to three month period of major slowdown,” Waco economist Ray Perryman told The Texas Tribune. “We are now at six and counting."
In an effort to supplant that money in August, President Trump announced new, extra $300 weekly payments would be distributed to unemployed people, but the program was short-lived and ended in September.
The consequences of the disintegrating safety net have already been dire — some Texans receive as little as $69 per week in benefits, a paycheck that was easier to manage when federal money was added.
Now, October is approaching and monthly bills will be due again, but despite the Trump administration announcing a new eviction moratorium, some unemployed Texans unable to pay their bills have not been protected, Houston Public Media reported.
Still, neither Congress nor President Trump have indicated additional money for unemployed people, who in Texas have faced “unprecedented financial challenges,” Abbott said Thursday.
“You still have a significant number of people that are unfortunately either unemployed or underemployed right now,” Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said recently during The Texas Tribune Festival.
As a result, Texans have spent less money over the last five months, leading to far fewer revenues from sales taxes, the largest source of revenue for the state’s budget. Already, state leaders have ordered state agencies to cut budgets by 5%.
“Consequently, further declines in sales tax revenue may ensue in the coming months,” Hegar said in early September.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has said he would rather die from the coronavirus than see instability in the economy, said Thursday’s announcement by Abbott was an important step in helping buck Hegar prediction.
“I know this is welcome news to everyone watching, and all the business owners out there,” Patrick said alongside Abbott Thursday.
But the Texas Restaurant Association said in a statement Thursday that many restaurants “will continue to struggle to reach the occupancy cap because of the social distancing requirements.”
“We’ve crossed the six-month mark of this crisis,” the statement read, “and it’s no exaggeration to say that the next few weeks will make the difference between tens of thousands of businesses surviving the economic fallout, or being forced to close their doors forever.”
Dr. Seth H. Giertz, an economics professor at the University of Texas at Dallas who used to work in the Congressional Budget Office, wasn’t optimistic about the current trajectory.
“It’s possible we could have bad financial situations and many more businesses collapsing even on the route we’re going now, just because businesses aren’t able to operate the way they were before and they're not getting the same support,” Giertz said.
Houston Public Media, University of Texas - Dallas and University of North Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/09/18/texas-unemployment-rate/.
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Extra $300 Payments Will no Longer be Given to Unemployed Texans
The Federal Emergency Management Agency notified state officials Wednesday that the payments for out-of-work Texans have ended, according to the Texas Workforce Commission, which handles unemployment claims.
Unemployed Texans will no longer receive an extra $300 in weekly payments
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Texans receiving unemployment benefits who qualified for an extra $300 in weekly jobless payments issued by the Trump administration will no longer receive the additional funds after claims from last week are paid, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.
The agency, which processes unemployment claims, said in a news release Wednesday afternoon it had been notified of the news by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provided the funds. Roughly 1.8 million Texans currently receive the $300 payment, according to the workforce commission.
It’s unclear whether more federal relief could be on the way for unemployed Texans. According to a report by The Washington Post on Wednesday, White House officials were considering an additional round of executive actions, including one to address unemployment benefits.
In August, President Donald Trump announced the extra weekly payments after an additional $600 weekly payment approved by Congress to help offset losses tied to the pandemic expired in July. The Trump administration said the federal government would provide $300 per week and that states could decide whether to contribute an additional $100, which Texas did not do. The state applied for federal funding roughly two weeks after the president issued his order.
Since the pandemic began in March, nearly 3.4 million Texans had applied for unemployment assistance as of Aug. 29. Texas has seen record-worst jobless rates in the months since the start of the pandemic, and the state's economy has, as the state comptroller has described multiple times, entered into a recession.
After news of the additional funding was made, the workforce commission said over 347,000 Texans receiving unemployment benefits would not qualify for the additional $300 weekly payment as of Aug. 24. A spokesperson for the agency said some people did not qualify because they did not indicate they had lost their jobs because of the pandemic when they filed for unemployment. Others did not qualify because they were receiving less than $100 in weekly unemployment benefits.
Disclosure: The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/09/09/300-unemployment-texas/.
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TWC Won't Collect Overpaid Unemployment Benefits
A Texas Workforce Commission spokesperson said he was previously unaware that a judicial order bars the state from recovering funds when the overpayment is the agency's fault.
Texas reverses course, says it won't collect overpaid unemployment benefits in instances when it was the state's mistake
"Texas reverses course, says it won't collect overpaid unemployment benefits in instances when it was the state's mistake" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Workers who lost their jobs and received overpayments from the Texas Workforce Commission won’t have to pay back those unemployment benefits if it was the state’s mistake, commission officials now say.
That's different from the agency's previous insistence, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, that the 46,000 Texans who received overpayments in recent months would have to pay the state back — even if they were not to blame.
“Texas is prevented by court order from collecting overpayments caused solely by the commission's error,” spokesperson Cisco Gamez said Wednesday during a media update posted on Facebook. That court order, which Gamez said he was previously unaware of, dates to 1978.
"I have to apologize for giving you information that was not more clear," Gamez wrote in an email to The Texas Tribune on Thursday.
The agency is seeking $32 million in unemployment benefits back. The commission is unsure how many people were overpaid because of a TWC error but says it’s very rare. Last year, according to a U.S. Department of Labor audit, TWC was responsible for 0.4% of incorrect payments.
“Anecdotally, there are roughly eight to 10 of these types of errors identified each year,” Gamez said Monday.
In most cases, overpayments occur because applicants report incorrect information or are not eligible, according to the agency.
Claimants who have received notices about overpayments can appeal the process, but TWC can take legal action if it doesn’t recover the money. If TWC finds unemployment fraud in a case, the person has to give back the benefits and pay a 15% penalty.
“There is no statute of limitations on debts owed to the state,” Gamez wrote in a previous email. “TWC cannot forgive or dismiss the overpayment and there is no exception for hardship.”
After two months of decline, unemployment claims have started to increase in Texas again. More than 117,244 people applied for unemployment claims last week, an increase of 21.4% compared with the week before. It was the second week in a row that the number of claims rose. Since mid-March, nearly 2.8 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in Texas.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/09/texas-unemployment-overpayment/.
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Texans Filing Unemployment Claims Increased
In Texas, more than 117,244 people applied for unemployment claims last week, an increase of 21.4% compared to the week before.
Number of Texans filing unemployment claims increased for second week in a row as 117,244 sought benefits
"Number of Texans filing unemployment claims increased for second week in a row as 117,244 sought benefits" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
As Texas experiences a surge of coronavirus infections, more than 117,244 people applied for unemployment claims last week, an increase of 21.4% compared to the week before. It was the second week in a row that the number of claims rose.
Since mid-March, nearly 2.8 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in Texas. The peak of unemployment claims came in early April, when more than 315,000 Texans applied for the benefit in a single week. During June, as businesses reopened, the demand for unemployment benefits decreased, but it was still more than five times larger than the number of applications than during the same month last year.
"The numbers are much lower than in March, but they are rather alarming and they coincide with the increase of coronavirus cases," said Sarah Zubairy, associate professor of economics at Texas A&M University. "Even if you open the restaurants, bars and gyms, this virus will be on the loose and it will affect how people are deciding to engage with the economy."
The overall unemployment rate for June is scheduled to be published next week. Texas’ unemployment rate hit an all-time high of 13.5% in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In May, the unemployment rate slightly fell to 13%. But the forecast for the coming months remains unclear.
"Governments are responding, so hopefully we will see improvements, but because of the coronavirus expansion, things are still very uncertain," Zubairy said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s worst-ever monthly unemployment rate was 9.2% in November 1986, as Texas reeled from the last big oil bust. Later, during the Great Recession, the unemployment rate in the state never surpassed 8.3%.
The state’s unemployment rate is the share of Texans in the labor force who are out of work. The unemployment rate is different than the raw number of people filing for unemployment insurance because some of those filers are still employed but have been furloughed or had their hours cut.
Disclosure: Texas A&M University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/09/texas-unemployment-claims-coronavirus/.
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Texas Workforce Commission Overpaid Unemployment Benefits
The Texas Workforce Commission said that incorrect filings and fraud can lead to overpayments, but the money must be paid back even if it was the state's mistake.
Texas clawing back $32 million in unemployment benefits after finding 46,000 people were overpaid
"Texas clawing back $32 million in unemployment benefits after finding 46,000 people were overpaid" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
More than 46,000 Texans who lost their jobs in recent months are having portions of their unemployment benefits clawed back after the Texas Workforce Commission found that they were initially overpaid.
The overpayments, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, are estimated to be more than $32 million in total since March.
“State law requires TWC to recover all unemployment benefits overpayments,” Cisco Gamez, spokesperson for the state agency, said in an email. “Overpayments stay on your record until repaid."
There can be several causes for overpayment, according to the agency, including fraud or incorrect reporting on an application. If TWC finds unemployment fraud in a case, the person has to give back the benefits and pay a 15% penalty.
Benefits must be repaid even if the state is to blame for the overpayment, or if it was otherwise not the recipient's fault.
"We cannot pay you benefits if you have an overpayment," Gamez said.
If the person that receives the notification of overpayment doesn't send back the money, the state comptroller can recover the money by withholding certain funds, including lottery winnings, unclaimed property, unemployment benefits and other state job-related expenses. Some state funding for college students cannot be released until a repayment is made in full.
Claimants who have received notices can appeal the process, but TWC can take legal action too if they don’t recover the money.
“There is no statute of limitations on debts owed to the state,” Gamez said on an email. “TWC cannot forgive or dismiss the overpayment and there is no exception for hardship.”
As of late June, 2.7 million Texans had filed for unemployment relief since mid-March, but TWC has struggled to keep up with the high levels of demand. Since the pandemic started, countless Texans have experienced problems accessing these benefits, encountering busy phone lines and an overwhelmed application website.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/06/texas-unemployment-benefits-workers/.
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Unemployed Renters Have few Options
Housing advocates and even some justices of the peace are bracing for a surge in evictions as the coronavirus pandemic continues to leave hundreds of thousands of Texans without jobs.
As evictions resume in Texas, unemployed renters have few options
"As evictions resume in Texas, unemployed renters have few options" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas legal aid groups, housing advocates and even some justices of the peace are bracing for a surge in evictions as the coronavirus pandemic continues to leave hundreds of thousands of Texans without jobs.
And although many Texans who have fallen behind on rent can’t catch up while the virus surges and unemployment remains sky high, the judges who are starting to once again preside over eviction cases say state law gives them little opportunity to show tenants mercy.
“The Legislature doesn't go into the point that says, ‘Should we have a pandemic, then you don't have to pay your rent,’” said Mike McAuliffe, a justice of the peace in Taylor County. “You have to look at both ends of this scenario. You have people that have been out of work … but then you also have business owners that owe money to banks.”
The Texas Supreme Court halted eviction proceedings in March, but that moratorium has since expired. Some counties still have moratoriums in place. But as those also begin lifting, a backlog of eviction cases is starting to wind through reopening courts.
As Texas tenants are starting to receive notices to vacate their homes or to appear at court hearings, legal groups are expanding their services and setting up special hotlines to help people navigate the eviction process.
The St. Mary’s Law Consumer Protection Clinic in San Antonio has seen calls to its hotline steadily increase since its launch June 1, the same day Bexar County’s eviction moratorium expired. Ten days after its launch, the hotline surpassed 100 calls.
“Unfortunately, of course, when the legal situation is bad, our calls pick up,” said Genevieve Hébert Fajardo, the clinic’s director.
The Texas Apartment Association, whose 12,000 members include around 7,500 property owners and operators, is encouraging property managers to work out payment plans with tenants. Crystal Moya, an executive member of the association, says it wants to be “part of the bigger solution.” The legal process of evictions can be costly for landlords. And a sudden increase in evictions could have ripple effects across the rental industry.
“Instead of going through that, we want to try to prevent that and work with our residents now,” said Moya, who is also an executive vice president of Vesta Corp. real estate. “A lot of owners are deferring payment at this time and putting the residents on payment plans. We’re one of those.”
But landlords who do proceed with evictions rather than working things out with their tenants face a legal system that many say is stacked in their favor. Housing advocates have been trying to get lawmakers to write more protections for renters into Texas property code for years, but they say it hasn’t been easy.
“In the last Legislature, there were many bills introduced, but our ability to get them passed has been very limited.” said Sandy Rollins, executive director of the Texas Tenants' Union. “Texas is a very landlord-friendly state and has a very landlord-friendly legislature.”
“A burden on tenants”
This tilt means that tenants affected by COVID-19 won’t have a lot of luck in Texas courtrooms. Justices of the peace across the state said that Texas’ property laws don’t leave room for them to consider circumstances like losing a job or experiencing health issues. If a person has not paid rent or has breached another clause in the lease — which could be anything from committing a crime to not paying a maintenance fee — they will most likely be evicted.
On Wednesday, Steven Quildon of The Colony in North Texas experienced this firsthand. At an eviction hearing handled on Zoom, Denton County Justice of the Peace James DePiazza told Quildon he owed around four months of rent.
"I paid partial in March," Quildon said. "That's when this COVID-19 pandemic started and hit us really bad. That's why I'm in this situation, because of COVID-19."
But DePiazza had bad news.
"That's not a legal defense in the state of Texas, the virus itself," DePiazza said. "The inability to pay, regardless of the reason, is not a defense in the state of Texas."
DePiazza ruled that Quildon has to either vacate the premises by Tuesday or file an appeal. Otherwise, the landlord will be able to file for a writ of possession, and a constable will force him to move out. But an attorney for Quildon's landlord offered the man the opportunity to try work out an agreement if Quildon would call his office.
“The question a judge is looking at is if a breach of contract occurs, regardless of what the circumstances surrounding the case are,” said Travis County Justice of the Peace Nicholas Chu. “We’re just kind of looking at this kind of yes-or-no analysis. That makes the job just really tough.”
There is still a moratorium in place on eviction cases in many counties, including Travis. Meanwhile, justices of the peace in counties without active moratoriums have resumed hearing cases, starting with evictions filed before the statewide pause and slowly catching up with the backlog. In El Paso County, Justice of the Peace Josh Herrera said COVID-19’s economic fallout is going to prompt many eviction cases, which he said were already wrenching to preside over.
“In my court I follow the law, and the law can be very black and white,” Herrera said. “You hear the saddest of cases.”
The statewide eviction moratorium ordered a cease in eviction hearings, but tenants are still responsible for rent they haven’t paid. Some cities and counties established temporary grace periods for tenants to catch up. But in parts of the state where leaders didn’t create these grace periods, the state’s property code allows landlords to evict even if the tenant comes up with what they owe before the judicial process finishes playing out.
“Nothing prevents the landlord from saying ‘Hey, I’m not taking your money,’ even if the tenant has it all or even if they want to offer more. And that really puts a burden on tenants,” Chu said.
The complex eviction process
In addition to rigid laws, rental contracts can also be difficult to understand, says Judge Jeff Wentworth in Bexar County. Lease agreements, often complex and written by landlords, dictate how tenants and landlords are supposed to communicate if they run into issues.
“So the cards are stacked, frankly, against the tenant from the get-go,” he said.
The contract most commonly used by landlords was created by the Texas Apartment Association, which acknowledges that it is a long and complex document. David Mintz, vice president of government affairs with that industry organization, said that renting property is a complicated relationship and there are a lot of aspects to cover, though recent iterations of common lease agreements have been updated and shortened.
“We try to avoid legalese, we try to have it in a logical progression that addresses issues coming up during rental relationships, try to have it broken up as readable as possible,” Mintz said.
When a landlord wants to remove a tenant, the first step is to provide the tenant a notice to vacate. That document typically tells the tenant that if they don’t pay past-due rent or vacate the unit, the landlord will file for an eviction. But many tenants don’t realize that this is not the actual eviction order. That doesn’t come until after a case is filed, a hearing is held and a justice of the peace has ruled in the case.
“They start packing because they do think that three days is all they have, and we try to explain to them that a notice to vacate begins the process, but they’re not required to leave until a court order is signed,” said Lizbeth Parra-Davila, a housing fellow at the University of Texas School of Law.
There are many other reasons why tenants prematurely move out. In Texas, an eviction can appear on a tenant’s record from the moment it is filed. That makes it difficult for tenants to find new homes even if they have not yet been evicted, said Linley Boone-Almaguer, an attorney at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.
Some renters also self-evict because of misconceptions they harbor surrounding the consequences of an eviction filing, including that it can lead to a tenant losing custody of their children, being fired from their job or going to jail, said Boone-Almaguer. Others, like undocumented tenants, fear deportation and try to avoid going to court altogether.
“And so we try to educate people,” she said. “Because time means so much when you're facing homelessness.”
Leveling the playing field
One of the problems in Texas that Judge Jeremy Brown in Harris County said lawmakers should address is the lack of legal representation for tenants. Although tenants can hire attorneys, this rarely happens. The state provides lawyers for criminal cases but not civil cases, such as evictions.
“I’ve been on the bench since November 2018, and I can count on one hand the folks that had a lawyer,” Brown said. “We have some other legal aid providers, but the needs far outweighs the demand.”
For tenants affected by COVID-19, a lawyer could help identify if the building is protected by the moratorium included in the CARES Act, which halted evictions in low-income housing and properties backed by federal loans until the end of July.
Attorneys might also be better at spotting if the landlord didn’t follow the right steps during the eviction process or breached the rental contract. Some cities, like San Antonio, have tried to solve this problem by funding legal assistance for people facing eviction.
Texas doesn’t give tenants time to catch up on past-due rent, or what is known as the right to cure default. During the pandemic, moratoriums didn’t erase back-due rent, and it is estimated that thousands of tenants are late on their payments. Only a few cities, like San Marcos and Austin, established grace periods that will allow tenants to catch up.
“If the goal is to have equity in our society, at a minimum Texas needs an opportunity to cure default,” said Sandy Rollins, executive director of the Texas Tenants' Union.
Rollins said that her organization and other housing advocates have tried for years to change state law so renters have more rights.
“We have a very long list of reforms needed to pass in Texas in terms of leveling the playing field,” Rollins said. “Most sessions we get something passed, but in terms of big leaps forward for equity, there’s a lot still to be done.”
Offering assistance to renters
Local governments, nonprofits and legal groups in the meantime are setting up programs and hotlines in anticipation of an influx of people facing the complicated eviction process.
The city of San Antonio is offering onsite rental assistance to tenants at the justice of the peace courts. The St. Mary’s Law Consumer Protection Clinic and the San Antonio Legal Services Association are trying to help as many clients as possible negotiate rental payments between landlords and tenants so situations can be handled without involving the courts.
In Dallas, the Southern Methodist University School of Law’s Civil/Consumer Clinic has partnered with Legal Aid of Northwest Texas and a grassroots organization called DallasEvictions2020.com to launch a help line to aid North Texas residents with COVID-19 concerns, including housing.
Mark Melton, the founder of DallasEvictions2020.com, said the help line has received between 15 to 25 calls per day since its launch in mid-March, but he expects more calls in the coming weeks and a “fairly large influx of eviction filings en masse” once the federal moratorium lifts on people living at properties financed through certain federal programs.
Brown, a justice of the peace in Harris County, is just now beginning to hear cases that were filed before and during the pandemic. But, like many advocates and lawyers, he hopes that the pandemic’s economic crisis will lead to changes in state law.
“During COVID, issues are being highlighted that were already there,” he said. “Hopefully when our Legislature goes back in session in 2021, they will remember these issues that were highlighted and make substantive changes to the betterment of all people.”
This story was produced in part with funding from the Ravitch Fiscal Reporting Program at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is part of a national project on how adequate state safety nets are for the pandemic recession.
Disclosure: David Mintz, Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/26/evictions-texas-unemployed-renters/.
The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state. Explore the next 10 years with us.