Authors: Erin Hahn and Sidney Beaty
Texas Housers is proud to announce the release of “High-Evicting Properties in Bexar and Harris Counties: Findings From a Five-Part Investigation,” the culmination of a five-part blog series on high-evicting properties in Bexar and Harris Counties. We released the fifth and final installment examining the connection between eviction and housing conditions earlier this month.
Eviction is not evenly distributed across rental housing. Our research over the course of 2026 shows that eviction filings are concentrated at a relatively small number of properties and owners. Documenting these patterns reveals how housing instability for many renters is highly influenced by ownership, statewide and local policy, punitive eviction practices that have become standard operations, and quality of housing conditions.
Our investigation began by identifying the 30 properties with the highest number of eviction filings in each county. From there, we asked: Who owns these properties? What role does public subsidy play? How are eviction filings being used? And what conditions are tenants experiencing prior to landing in eviction court?
Across the investigation, we found that eviction is highly concentrated. The top 30 properties accounted for 12% of all 2024 eviction filings in Bexar County and 8% in Harris County. More than a third of Bexar County’s top 30 properties received public subsidies or tax exemptions, raising questions about whether public investment in affordable housing is delivering not only affordability, but also stability.
We also examined the owners and practices behind these patterns. Complex ownership structures can obscure the actors behind properties and make portfolio-wide accountability difficult. Serial filings accounted for 38% of filings at top-evicting properties in Bexar County and 44% in Harris County, suggesting that in some cases, high filing rates may reflect routine business practices as opposed to isolated instances of tenant instability.
The final installment explored the intersection of evictions with housing conditions. Tenants facing eviction may also be living with property conditions that make housing unhealthy or unstable. When tenants with limited housing options are pushed from one property into another with similar conditions, eviction can become part of a long-term cycle of housing instability.
Taken together, these findings illustrate why eviction cannot be understood solely as the result of individual tenants falling behind on rent, despite what preconceived notions may suggest. Eviction rates are shaped by the rules, incentives, ownership structures, and practices that govern rental housing in Texas. Yet our state lacks a unified, publicly accessible system connecting eviction filings with property ownership, public subsidy, and housing conditions, making it difficult to identify larger patterns and hold actors accountable.
Our report includes policy tools that can help close those gaps, including recommendations for greater transparency around property ownership and eviction activity, stronger accountability for publicly supported properties, and tenant protections that help reduce unnecessary and serial eviction filings.
Eviction should be a last resort, not a routine part of renting for low-income households. Understanding where eviction is concentrated, who is responsible, how public resources are involved, and tenant experiences at these properties is an essential step towards advancing more stable housing in Texas.
[…] half a year of investigation, our research team of Sidney Beaty and Erin Hahn, have completed and shared their final report on the major issues that ultimately cause […]