As the 2025 Texas Legislature comes to a close, we are celebrating a hard fought victory for preserving basic tenant protections in Texas. Throughout session, Texas Housers was hard at work to ensure that low-income households have more access to housing and all renters in Texas are afforded basic protections under the law. However, there was a push at the Legislature that threatened those very rights under the false pretense of securing property from “squatters.”
SB 38 as originally written was perhaps the most anti-tenant bill ever proposed in the Texas Legislature. Among its many dangerous proposals, the bill introduced a summary disposition process that would have allowed for lightning-fast evictions with no trial or hearing, a legal aid poison pill that would essentially eliminate attorneys’ ability to represent tenants in eviction court, and allowed landlords to choose their own judge via court shopping. The bill also reduced writ of possession timelines, eliminated Notices to Vacate for some cases, and allowed writs of possession to be delivered by non-law enforcement third parties or off-duty cops without identification.
Thanks to the collaborative work of tenants, everyday people, and many advocacy partners, all of these provisions were removed or significantly amended to reduce harm.
We want to express our sincere and heartfelt gratitude to every person who called, wrote, showed up to testify, shared concerns on this bill with a friend or loved one. This bill looks very different due to the work that the coalition of tenant advocates in Texas put in. As we put the 89th legislative session to rest, it’s our hope that we do not tire, but in fact remain energized. There is urgent work needed to build on this momentum and ensure that our leaders continue to demand that renters and low-income people be treated as human beings who deserve the same protections and chance for a stable livelihood as anyone else.
