Harris County Eviction Case Dashboard

Harris County Eviction
Mapping Tool

Created by Taylor Laredo & Sidney Beaty

Toggle the layers of the Harris County Eviction Mapping Tool by using the Stacked Diamonds icon in the top right corner. Download the map data here.

Summary

Rising rents have caused the Houston area’s growing renter population to become increasingly housing cost burdened (paying more than 30% of one’s income on rent and utilities)1Sherman, S. A., Cheong, C., Banerjee, D., Kim, A., & Yang, A. (2025). The 2025 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston. Kinder Institute for Urban Research. https://doi.org/10.25611/4S3N-9Q58. Lack of access to affordable housing puts renters at greater risk of housing instability and eviction. Having an eviction filed against you has devastating impacts on the health, education, and finances of a household and larger effects on the overall stability of communities. The negative impacts of evictions disproportionately affect low-income renter households.

An accurate understanding of trends among evictors and evicted households, such as where eviction filings are most concentrated in Harris County, is essential in order to target assistance to the households who need it most to stabilize and preserve communities.

As a supplement to Texas Housers’ 2024 Harris County Eviction Mapping Tool and Harris County and City of Houston Eviction Snapshots, this narrative provides a detailed portrait of evictions in Harris County in 2024. The narrative first describes important background information about evictions in the county, then it details findings from an analysis of all evictions filed in Harris County in 2024. This analysis includes discussions of both the geography of eviction in Harris County and trends among the owners of high-evicting properties.

Key findings from our analysis of 2024 Harris County eviction data include:

  • 76,321 eviction cases were filed against Harris County residents in 2024, which equates to about 1 in 10 Harris County renter households.
  • There were high concentrations of eviction filings in Southwest Harris County north of the Westpark Tollway, South Central Harris County, and Northwest Harris County along FM 1960.
    • Areas with concentrations of eviction filings also had higher shares of renters of color. 
  • The top 30 evicting properties accounted for nearly 1 in every 13 evictions filed.
    • One in three of these top-evicting properties is owned by a non-Texan company.
    • Two of these top-evicting properties receive state or federal affordable housing funds: one Low-Income Housing Tax-Credit (LIHTC) property and one with a 100% tax exemption due to being owned by the Pecos County Housing Finance Corporation, the latter purchased in February 2025 (Sterling Point/Milagro)2 Dexheimer, E., & Winger, A. (2025, June 11). Texas closed a tax loophole. Last-minute deals cost taxpayers $175M anyway. The Houston Chronicle. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2025/hfc-loophole-taxpayer-cost-legislature/.
  • The majority of cases resulted in a dismissal, the majority of which occurred due to the plaintiff’s absence at the court hearing. This does not mean that the tenant was necessarily able to stay at the property, and may instead indicate that the tenant left prior to the trial.
  • The median eviction case length was 24 days from filing date to judgment, demonstrating that the eviction process required by state law in 2024 does not unreasonably burden landlords from reclaiming possession of their units.

In order to address the harms of eviction, we must implement common sense eviction prevention and diversion policies to address ongoing housing instability and reduce the need for eviction proceedings in Harris County. To navigate such solutions, this report contains recommendations for local- and state-level policies that would reduce risk of or vulnerability to eviction and reduce the harm of eviction once it has occurred.

Table of Contents

Background

A Persistent Eviction Problem in Harris County

Landlords filed 76,321 eviction cases against Harris County households in 2024. Evictions are not simply data points. Each one is a severe, at times harrowing, legal action where real people and their families are forced to leave their home, often with no resources or support to keep a roof over their heads. Each eviction case represents a household experiencing a massive upheaval of their life and an alteration to the composition of the community they belonged to. 

The impacts of displacement spurred by eviction have long-term implications for the health and stability of individuals and families. Experiencing an eviction has been found to negatively impact childbirth, childhood development, and have lasting impacts on the mental health of young adults3 Ramphal, B., Keen, R., Okuzuno, S. S., Ojogho, D., & Slopen, N. (2023). Evictions and Infant and Child Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review. JAMA network open, 6(4), e237612. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.7612 Acharya, B., Bhatta, D., & Dhakal, C. (2022). The risk of eviction and the mental health outcomes among the US adults. Preventive Medicine Reports, 29, 101981. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.101981.

Eviction is positively associated with negative mental and physical health outcomes in adults and is linked to exposure to violence, drug usage, exposure to infectious diseases, and increased mortality4 Smith, P. D., Keene, D. E., Dilday, S., Blankenship, K. M., & Groves, A. K. (2024). Eviction from rental housing and its links to health: A scoping review. Health & Place, 86, 103182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103182 . The negative impacts of eviction are exacerbated for female renters, Black renters, and renters with children5Ibid..

Renters are often blamed for experiencing eviction, without consideration of the circumstances that led to the eviction. Listening to tenants’ testimonies in eviction court reveals that the circumstances leading up to an eviction often involve a sudden life emergency such as an unexpected job loss or increased medical expenses due to a death or illness. 

Currently, 45% of all households in Harris County are renters. High housing costs are leaving renter households increasingly housing cost burdened, meaning they spend more than one third of their income on rent and utilities. This is particularly true for those with low incomes. While under a third of households in the Houston metro area making between 80% and 100% of the Area Median Income (AMI) are cost burdened, 94% of households making less than 30% AMI experience housing cost burden6The Gap Report: Texas. (2025). National Low Income Housing Coalition. https://nlihc.org/gap/state/tx. A survey of Houston metro area renters between August and September 2024 found 7% of renters felt pressured to move due to rent increases7U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). Phase 4.2 Cycle 09 Household Pulse Survey: Housing Table 5. US Department of Commerce. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2024/demo/hhp/cycle09.html.

Harris County is experiencing an eviction crisis and local officials must take swift action to address it. One life emergency should not push a family into a cycle of housing instability or homelessness. 

As Funding Dwindles, The Need for Eviction Prevention Increases

Eviction rates dropped significantly during the pandemic compared to pre pandemic rates, largely due to temporary protections for renters granted by federal and state governments during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas Rent Relief (TRR) and the Texas Eviction Diversion Program (TEDP) were statewide initiatives aimed at providing timely rental assistance to renters facing eviction and conferring additional protections for renters experiencing an eviction. Both of these programs ended in the summer of 2023. Every year since 2021, eviction filings have exceeded pre-pandemic levels in Harris County. The average count of eviction filings in Harris County from 2022 to 2024 was 30% higher than the average count from 2010 to 2019.

Texas law confers few protections to renters experiencing an eviction. Recent changes to the eviction process were passed by the 2025 Texas Legislature, but the data discussed in this report covers evictions filed in 2024 prior to these changes. Under 2024 state law, tenants were entitled to only a three day notice to vacate and were not granted an opportunity to cure the back rent owed to their landlord8 Texas Property Code, Chapter 24. Forcible Entry and Detainer, Sec. 24.005 (1983 & rev 2015). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.24.htm. Texas tenants had – and still have – limited legal defenses to a properly-filed eviction and are not allowed to file counterclaims in an eviction proceeding9 Silberman, P. (2023, September 22). Eviction Appeals and Counterclaims in Texas. Silberman Law Firm, PLLC. https://silblawfirm.com/real-estate-law/eviction-appeals-and-counterclaims/. The entire eviction process in Texas can render a tenant homeless in 21 days10 Texas State Law Library. (n.d.). Guides: Landlord/Tenant Law: About Evictions. https://guides.sll.texas.gov/landlord-tenant-law/about-evictions .

As state and federal protections have waned, Harris County has invested in some lasting eviction prevention measures such as providing legal services to qualifying low income households facing eviction. Local efforts to curb the harm of unnecessary evictions are beneficial, but the general trend of increasing evictions warrants additional interventions and funding to ensure that evictions are fair and rare. Increasing housing costs and rates of housing cost burden will make renters more vulnerable to eviction, particularly the lowest income households. State and local leaders must dedicate resources to eviction prevention and diversion that stabilize renter households through temporary periods of financial shock.

The Harris County Eviction Mapping Tool

This mapping tool is an analysis of all eviction filings in Harris County in 2024. This tool adds to the currently available resources on evictions in Harris County by cleaning and compiling eviction and demographic data in order to map each individual filing and connect filings at the same property or at properties with the same owner. As a result, we are able to identify the Top 30 highest evicting properties in the county and analyze information about case outcomes. Users can examine eviction filings within several different political boundaries and individual eviction filings with overlays of demographic data. It is intended to augment existing research on evictions in Harris County and help elected officials, service providers, and housing advocates better understand where the greatest need for anti-eviction resources exists at different levels of geography, including City Council Districts and Commissioners Court Precincts. 

View Texas Housers’ interactive dashboard ‘Where Evictions Were Filed in Harris County in 2024’ here. 

Methodology

Data on renter households was compiled from the most recent American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2019 – 2023). Eviction data was compiled from the Harris County Justice of the Peace Courts Public Data Extract Service. All eviction data is from the year 2024, the most current dataset for an entire calendar year of evictions. Political boundaries used are as follows:

  • Harris County Commissioner Court boundaries, adopted in 2021;
  • Houston City Council district Boundaries that went into effect in 2024;
  • City of Houston Super Neighborhood boundaries as of 2025;
  • Houston-area Independent School Districts as of 2025; and
  • Texas House Districts as of 2022 (prior to 2025 redistricting).

The same data used in this report and in the Harris County Eviction Mapping Tool was used to create our Harris County and City of Houston Eviction Snapshots.

Our full methodology, including a discussion of data limitations, can be found here.

Findings

First we discuss general, county-wide findings from our analysis, then we provide more detailed analysis focused on two major themes: 1) the geography of eviction in Harris County and 2) the top 30 properties in Harris County with the most evictions filed against tenants.

General Findings

Landlords filed 76,321 evictions against Harris County residents in 2024, about 1 filing for every 10 renter households in the county. This represents a 5% decrease in filings compared to the 80,110 filings in 2023, but eviction filing rates remain around 20% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Given the high costs of rental housing and increasing rates of housing cost burden, rates are unlikely to decrease to pre-pandemic levels in the near future without significant intervention. 

Drops in eviction filings coincided with the May Derecho and Hurricane Beryl that impacted Harris County on May 16 and July 8 of 2024, respectively. It is important to note that some of the variation in eviction trends from 2023 to 2024 may be explained by these instances of natural disasters. 

Recent claims that the eviction process is overly burdensome on Texas landlords gained enough attention to trigger a proposal for new state legislation to “speed up eviction timelines.”11Kimble, M., & Zdun, M. (2025, May 23). How a bill to speed up evictions is testing Texas’ powerful landlord lobby. The Houston Chronicle. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2025/squatting-bill-evictions/  However, our analysis found a median eviction case length of just 24 days from filing date to judgment. This indicates that the current eviction timeline does not unreasonably burden landlords from reclaiming possession of their units, and is relatively in line with Texas’ legal standard of 21 days.

Case Outcomes

The majority of eviction cases filed in 2024 resulted in a dismissal of the case. The majority of dismissals were a result of the plaintiff or landlord dismissing the eviction (due to the tenant moving out before the hearing or if an agreement was reached before the hearing) or because the plaintiff did not appear for their court hearing. 

A dismissal is not automatically indicative of a favorable outcome for the tenant. A dismissed eviction case on a tenant’s record is harmful, as it could negatively impact their ability to qualify for future rental housing that is safe, decent and affordable. A dismissed case does not indicate the tenant will remain on the property long-term; even with a dismissal tenants may be forced to relocate due to an agreement or a second eviction filing. A high rate of dismissals also raises the concern that many eviction filings are avoidable, and ultimately, unnecessary to fix the issues that led to the filing in the first place.

Another alarming pattern is that over a third of eviction cases (37%) were default judgments. A high rate of default judgments indicates that a significant portion of tenants who are faced with an eviction filing do not show up to their court hearing. This may be a result of the three major impediments defendants face to get to their eviction hearing: lack of access to court, lack of understanding about the court process, and fear of the eviction process.

Tenants may not arrive on the date and time of their court proceeding due to transportation barriers, court hours conflicting with work or family responsibilities, difficulty understanding the complicated eviction process, language barriers, not knowing their rights under the law; or simply being overwhelmed by having to appear in front of a judge to defend themselves. Many tenants see a Notice to Vacate from their landlord as the eviction itself. Afraid of how their landlord may proceed, and unsure of their rights, a tenant may have already vacated the property by the time the eviction is filed and their eviction hearing approaches. 

High rates of default judgments warrant action to connect tenants with resources before the date of their hearing and ensure they have meaningful access to court, an understanding of the eviction process,   and can collect evidence or prepare to deliver testimony on the day of their hearing if they desire.

Where Were Evictions Filed?

To account for the distribution of renter households in Harris County, we map the eviction filing rate at the census tract level. This rate is calculated by dividing the number of evictions filed in a census tract in 2024 by the number of renter households that live in the tract. 

The county as a whole has an eviction filing rate of 9.7%, meaning that approximately 1 in 10 renter households living in the tract received an eviction filing in 2024. As can be seen in Figure 1 below, some areas that experienced higher eviction filing rates include:

  • Downtown Houston;
  • South Central Harris County in the OST/South Union communities and further west in South Main;
  • Southwest Harris County north of the Westpark Tollway along Westheimer Road, extending westbound into the Eldrige/West Oaks area; and
  • Northwest Harris County along FM 1960 southwest from Cypress Station.

All of these areas contain several census tracts with an eviction filing rate of 20 percent or more, indicating that as many as 1 in every 5 renter households in the census tract received an eviction filing against them.

In Figure 2, an overlay of eviction filings as a heat map further highlights the locations in Harris County where eviction filings concentrated in 2024, in particular:

  • Northwest Harris County along FM 1960 between I-45 and SH 249 and the I-45 corridor from Cypress Station to Greenspoint; and
  • Southwest Harris County, between the Westpark Tollway and Briar Forest Drive extending west into the Eldrige/West Oaks area.

There are other areas with smaller concentrations such as downtown and in South Main. Most of the areas where eviction filings are concentrated contain large amounts of multifamily apartment complexes built in the mid to late 20th century as the Houston metropolitan area expanded around the outskirts of the city along major roads. The areas with clusters are primarily outside of the urban core and may be characterized by lack of access to public transportation, resources such as grocery stores, and other basic public services12 Guajardo, L., Sherman, S., Park, J., & Fulton, W. (2021). Preserving Affordable Housing in Harris County. Kinder Institute for Urban Research. https://doi.org/10.25611/GV7E-SG26 .

What Were High-Evicting Neighborhoods Like?

Research shows that households led by a person of color face disproportionately high eviction filing rates13 Hepburn, P., Louis, R., & Desmond, M. (2020, December 16). Racial and Gender Disparities among Evicted Americans. Eviction Lab. https://evictionlab.org/demographics-of-eviction/ . Comparing Figures 1 and 2 with the map of non-white population in Figure 3 shows that areas with concentrated evictions tend to be in tracts with higher shares of non-white renter households. This is especially apparent in the northwest and southwest portions of Harris County. The majority of the top evicting properties are also located in areas with more non-white renters. Out of the 20 census tracts with the highest eviction filing rates, eighteen had majority non-white renter populations. 

Figure 3 also highlights the notorious Houston Arrow, a stark arrow shape “pointing” from west to central Houston that captures some of the whitest, wealthiest areas in the county14Binkovitz, L. (n.d.). The Houston Arrow: The shape of the city`s inequity. https://onebreathhou.org/houston-arrow/ . For example, just 7% of renter households in Census Tract 4317.02 in the “Houston Arrow” are non-white. The tract has a 1% eviction filing rate.

Comparing Figures 1 and 2 with Figure 4 from the 2021 Rice University Kinder Institute Report  “Preserving Housing Affordability in Harris County” reveals that many of the areas with high concentrations of eviction filings also have high concentrations of “naturally occurring affordable housing” (NOAH). The Kinder Institute defines NOAH units as unsubsidized rental housing units that are affordable to households making 80% of Median Household Income (MHI) due to “substandard quality, unfavorable location or other reasons associated with aging.”15Guajardo, L., Sherman, S., Park, J., & Fulton, W. (2021). Preserving Affordable Housing in Harris County. Kinder Institute for Urban Research. https://doi.org/10.25611/GV7E-SG26 

NOAH is the most widely available form of affordable housing in Harris County. Concentrations of eviction filings in areas that have a greater stock of NOAH may indicate there are threats to NOAH preservation needing attention such as gentrification and investor activity associated with harmful outcomes for tenants.

How did Evictions and Political Boundaries Overlap?

Figure 5 illustrates the number of evictions filed within the four Harris County Commissioner Precincts and the top 30 evicting properties in Harris County. The largest number of evictions were filed within Precinct 1 (25,471), which is served by Commissioner Rodney Ellis. Precinct 1 accounts for one third of all evictions filed in the county and almost double the amount of evictions filed in the precinct with the fewest evictions, Precinct 3, served by Tom Ramsey (13,570). Precinct 4, served by Commissioner Lesley Briones, has the largest number of top evicting properties with 13 of the top 30. Observing the relationship between evictions and political boundaries is helpful for understanding where resources and response may need to be focused, however it is important to keep in mind that factors such as income and tenure, which impact evictions, may vary from district to district. 

Figure 6 illustrates the distribution of eviction filings across the eleven Houston City Council districts and the top 30 evicting properties in Harris County. City Council district B, represented by Council Member Tarsha Jackson, contained the most eviction filings in 2024 (7,553). District B contains 57,200 renter households, the fourth most of any council district. District B has the highest eviction filing rate (13%) of any city council district, meaning that one in every ten renter households experienced an eviction filing. District G contained the highest number of top evicting properties (5).

Figure 7 shows the distribution of eviction filings among the 24 Texas House Districts that make up Harris County and the top 30 evicting properties in Harris County. District 141, served by Representative Senfronia Thompson, had the most evictions filed at 6,601. While District 141 has the largest number of filings, it has the second highest eviction rate at 15.1% behind District 142 (Rep. Harold Dutton) at 15.4%. District 141 has twice as many renter households as District 142. District 134 (Rep. Ann Johnson), located at the tip of the “Houston Arrow”, has the second largest renter population among Harris County house districts and the lowest eviction rate at 5.6%. See our Texas Legislative District Housing Profiles tool for more information about low-income housing needs in Texas legislative districts.

Who Filed the Most Evictions?

A unique piece of Texas Housers’ eviction analysis in Harris County is the in-depth review of the top 30 properties in the county with the most evictions. These top 30 properties in 2024 filed 5,817 evictions, or 8% of all eviction cases filed in Harris County. The majority of top evicting properties have high eviction rates; 24 of the 30 highest evicting properties filed an eviction against more than one third of their tenants and six filed an eviction against more than one half of their tenants in 2024.

Many of the census tracts with a high eviction filing rate appear so primarily because of one or two high evicting properties that are located within its boundaries. Estates at Cypress, the 9th top evicting property in the county, accounts for 207 out of 220 evictions in its census tract, which gives that tract the third highest eviction filing rate in the county (60%). The top evicting property, Del Mar Apartments, accounts for 343 out of 366 evictions in its tract (which also has a 60% eviction filing rate).

Our review also revealed that, like in 2023, two of the 30 highest evicting properties were affordable housing properties: one Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) property and one with a Housing Finance Corporation (HFC) 100% property tax exemption through Chapter 394 of Texas Local Government Code. This is alarming. Tenants living in subsidized properties should not be vulnerable to the threat of eviction given that the rent in their units is intended to be affordable, and these properties are provided public funds to improve housing stability. Even more alarming is that the HFC property was purchased by a “traveling HFC” – Pecos County HFC – in February 2025, well after state lawmakers had already signaled a desire to restrict these exact purchases.16Dexheimer, E. (2024, December 12). Texas local governments cash in on a property tax loophole as time runs out. Houston Chronicle. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/housing-finance-corps-taxes-loophole-19889199.php

As part of our review of the top 30 evicting properties, we also take a close look at property ownership. As illustrated in Figure 8, more than two thirds of the 30 highest evicting properties are owned by entities based outside of Houston; 13 properties are owned by out of state entities. Many of the highest evicting properties in Harris County are owned by the same entities, and most of these repeat top evictors are from out-of-state:

  • Three properties are owned by Fundamental Partners (from New York City);
  • Three properties have Three Pillars Capital Group (from Houston) in their ownership structure;
  • Two properties are owned by Abbey Residential (from Alabama); and
  • Two properties are owned by DRA Advisors (from New York City).

This finding warrants further investigation into the eviction policies and practices of these specific entities, and into the experiences of residents of properties owned by these entities.

Two-thirds of the 30 highest evicting properties were most recently sold to the current owner in the last five years. The presence of large, out-of-state investor-owner firms and the recent sales of these properties indicates that this is highly financialized rental housing driven by profit-seeking behaviors that may harm tenants, particularly those with low incomes.

Research shows that these landlords who own properties in multiple jurisdictions tend to target acquisitions of older properties in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. Often, the new owner makes cosmetic improvements to the property, raises the rents, and displaces the current tenants while also depleting the NOAH stock in the area.17Immergluck, D., Ernsthausen, J., Earl, S., & Powell, A. (2020). Evictions, large owners, and serial filings: Findings from Atlanta. Housing Studies, 35(5), 903–924. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2019.1639635 

Properties run by corporate landlords sometimes use serial or repeat eviction filings against tenants as a rent enforcement mechanism.18 Garboden, P. M., & Rosen, E. (2019). Serial Filing: How Landlords use the Threat of Eviction. City & Community, 18(2), 638–661. https://doi.org/10.1111/cico.12387 Unlike “mom and pop” landlords who are more willing to work with tenants to obtain back rent in a timely manner through negotiating a payment plan, properties owned by large investors and run by professional property managers tend to quickly file evictions against tenants who are behind on rent. This practice clogs up eviction courts and while many tenants are able to cure the back rent before their court hearing, the damage is still done. The tenant will have an eviction filing on their record, which presents a significant barrier to renting in the future. On a large scale, these filings and resulting difficulties finding housing can have destabilizing effects on communities.

Policy Recommendations

The COVID-19 pandemic cast a spotlight on the harmful impacts of eviction, especially on low-income renter households. The subsequent emergence of unprecedented temporary protections and assistance for renters to curb evictions during the pandemic demonstrated how common sense solutions formed through collaboration between government and nonprofit organizations can prevent the harm that eviction causes to a household. Local policymakers must continue to invest in tenant stability practices in Harris County.

Local recommendations

Upstream protection:

1.1 Produce and preserve housing units that are affordable to households with the lowest incomes

The Harris County My Home is Here report cites a shortage of 156,196 available and affordable rental units for households that make 30% or less of the Harris County Median Household Income (MHI). A severe shortage of deeply affordable units forces some of these extremely low-income (ELI) households to accept a unit that requires them to devote more of their income to rent than what is sustainable. This not only leads to high rates of housing cost burden and housing instability among ELI households, but also adds strain to the shortage of units that are affordable and available to households making between 30% and 60% MHI.19 The Kinder Institute of Urban Research at Rice University, Asakura Robinson, Community Development Strategies, Ford Momentum!, & University of Texas at Austin Center for Sustainable Development. (2021). My Home is Here: Harris County’s Housing Needs Assessment and 10-Year Strategy. https://hcd.harriscountytx.gov/Portals/hcd/Documents/My%20Home%20is%20Here/-48034192993MHIH_Final_Report_10292021_compressed.pdf Harris County and City of Houston officials must address this gap in housing for the lowest income households with policies that preserve and produce deeply affordable housing.

Pre-eviction:

1.2 Institute tenant protections at rental properties that receive city funds

Harris County requires all properties that receive county funds include an addendum to their lease offering tenants protections against eviction, including a “just cause” requirement and a requirement that the landlord must provide timely information on rental assistance and legal aid services available to the tenant.20Kelly, S. G. (2022, October 19). Tenants at Harris County-funded apartments guaranteed timely repairs, protection from unjust evictions. Houston Chronicle. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/housing/article/tenant-protections-Harris-County-funded-apartments-17519756.php Just cause requirements protect renters from wrongful or preventable evictions and promote housing stability by restricting the causes for which a landlord is allowed to evict a tenant or refuse to renew a lease.21All-In Cities Policy Toolkit: Just cause. (n.d.) PolicyLink. https://www.policylink.org/resources-tools/tools/all-in-cities/housing-anti-displacement/just-cause 

While Texas law does not allow cities to institute just cause or opportunity to cure protections that apply to all rental properties within the jurisdiction, localities may require these tenant protections at properties that they subsidize. The City of Houston should take action, as Harris County has done, to require that rental properties that receive subsidies from the city offer these protections to tenants. 

1.3 Sustain and expand funding for rental assistance

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Houston and Harris County jointly administered the Houston-Harris Helps Rent Relief program that distributed millions of dollars of federal emergency rental assistance dollars to help thousands of low-income households avoid eviction.22Catholic charities to administer new rental assistance Fund in partnership with City of Houston and Harris. (2021, February 10). Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. https://catholiccharities.org/houston-harris-county-emergency-rental-assistance-program-21021/ As statewide rental assistance programs closed in the spring of 2023, Houston-Harris Helps continued administering limited rental assistance to qualifying households and ultimately transitioned into a referral system through legal aid in eviction court or other social service providers by the fall of 2023. Currently there are no major sources of rental assistance for tenants experiencing an eviction.23 Posey, H. G. (2025, January 8). Free legal aid, rental assistance programs for Harris County tenants. KPRC. https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2025/01/08/free-legal-aid-rental-assistance-programs-for-harris-county-tenants/ The smooth facilitation of rental assistance through this intergovernmental partnership is a model for how rental assistance can be effectively delivered to renter households facing eviction. Local leaders must establish a permanent fund for rental assistance, an integral component of an effective eviction prevention platform that has demonstrated success in helping households who experience temporary financial hardship avoid the harmful and lasting effects of eviction that can lead to homelessness.

1.4 Implement Eviction Diversion Facilitators in high evicting courts

Two Harris County justices of the peace (Judge Steve Duble and Judge Dolores Lozano) implemented eviction diversion programs in their courts through a grant from the National Center for State Courts that enabled them to hire two full time eviction diversion facilitators. The eviction diversion facilitator contacts tenants before their eviction hearing, emphasizing the importance of attending their hearing, and connects them with legal aid and social services that can assist tenants with rent. In Judge Steve Duble’s court, rates of default judgments, which occur when a landlord receives an automatic judgment for eviction if the tenant does not show up to their court hearing, dropped 44% following the introduction of their eviction diversion facilitator24 Doyle, C. (2024, December 31). Harris County eviction court diversion results in 44% drop of cases landlord wins by default. Houston Landing. https://houstonlanding.org/harris-county-eviction-court-diversion-results-in-44-drop-of-cases-landlord-wins-by-default/. Elected officials should implement similar programs in the courts that experience the highest eviction filings in order to connect tenants to critical resources and divert evictions before their court hearing occurs.

1.5 Promote tenant-landlord mediation services

Tenant-landlord mediation programs help to resolve disputes before they escalate into formal eviction cases by facilitating open dialogue and negotiation. Pre-trial mediation programs made available before or as the tenant falls behind on rent are proven to successfully protect tenants from the harms of eviction and the risk that an eviction filing on their record poses to their future housing stability25Bieretz, B., Burrowes, K., & Bramhall, E. (2020). Getting Landlords and Tenants to Talk the Use of Mediation in Eviction. The Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/101991/getting-landlords-and-tenants-to-talk_3.pdf. Harris County operates a Dispute Resolution Center that provides free mediation services for all residents of Harris County, including services relevant to evictions like mediation for landlords and tenants before any civil suit has been filed, and mediation for active justice of the peace court matters. Promoting the use of the services offered by the Dispute Resolution Center can reduce the need for landlords to file eviction lawsuits.

1.6 Target preventative resources to high-risk areas

Utilizing data and tools, such as the mapping tool and snapshots provided in this project, to identify neighborhoods at high risk of eviction is essential for effective resource allocation and intervention strategies. By analyzing eviction rates, income levels, and other measures of social vulnerability, city staff and service providers can proactively direct information about legal services, financial assistance, and other preventative resources to the areas that need them most.

During the eviction trial:

1.7 Continue to fund and expand the Access to Justice program that provides attorneys to tenants in Harris County

In 2021, the Harris County Commissioner’s Court authorized $1 million in CARES Act funding to create the COVID-19 Harris County Legal Services Initiative, a collective of organizations supporting eviction defense for low-income tenants26Agreement. (2021, August 24). Harris County Commissioners Court. https://harriscountytx.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5091692&GUID=AC7BEDED-489E-4224-9752-99340A9F671A. Following the advocacy efforts of the Keep Harris Housed coalition, an additional $4 million of ARPA funds were allocated to legal representation for tenants facing an eviction27 Carlton, R. (2022, September 30). Harris County Commissioners approve $4M to provide legal services for renters facing eviction. Community Impact. https://communityimpact.com/houston/bay-area/city-county/2022/09/30/harris-county-commissioners-approve-4m-to-provide-legal-services-for-renters-facing-eviction/. In 2023, tenants were four times more likely to be represented by an attorney in eviction proceedings than before the pandemic28Malone, J., Orduña, J., Everett, J. P., Ranachan, K., Laredo, T., Martin, B., & Montgomery, S. J. (2024). Keeping Harris County Housed: An Overview of the Eviction Crisis in Harris County. New Economy for Working Houston. https://texashousers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Keeping-Harris-County-Housed-An-Overview-of-the-Eviction-Crisis-in-Harris-County-1.pdf. Local leaders must build on this success and continue to invest in legal services for households facing eviction, a cost-effective measure to prevent needless evictions and housing instability, and ensure that landlords are filing their evictions lawfully.

Post-eviction:

1.8 Expand funding for relocation assistance

Harris County currently does not allocate funding for relocation assistance for households who have experienced an eviction. An evicted household is forced to relocate with little time to find another rental property, putting them at risk of homelessness, doubling up with another household, or becoming homeless. Elected officials in Houston and Harris County should allocate funding to support families displaced by an eviction through funding supportive services that effectively transition a household into a safe and decent home after an eviction and enable them to become economically self-sufficient.

Data improvements:

1.9 Ensure uniform data reporting standards across all eviction courts

While eviction data is made publicly available in Harris County, there are numerous limitations to the usability of this data. As noted in the limitations of our methodology, defendant address data, information about plaintiffs who file evictions, and data concerning case outcomes all have limitations that obscure a clear understanding of who files evictions in Harris County and what the final outcome of the eviction case is. Standardized procedures for reporting data at the local level, such as verifying plaintiff names and addresses against state records, can clarify important information about the actors who file evictions. There must be an accurate understanding of who files evictions, where evictions occur, and what eviction case outcomes are to improve researchers’, elected officials’, and social service providers’ understanding of evictions and where to target assistance. 

Statewide recommendations

The following recommendations mirror the ones put forth in our Bexar County Eviction Mapping Tool.

Upstream protection:

2.1 Fund the production and rehabilitation of low-income housing 

The Texas Housing Trust Fund is the only State-authorized source of funding for low-income housing programs, and its current funding falls far short of meeting growing demand. In Texas, there are only 25 available and affordable units for every 100 extremely low-income households (making less than 30% of the Area Median Income) who need one and just 45 units for every 100 very low-income households (making less than 50% of the Area Median Income)29The GAP. (2025). National Low Income Housing Coalition. https://nlihc.org/gap. Increasing funding for affordable housing production through the Housing Trust Fund, or other similar mechanisms such as a revolving low-interest loan fund, is urgently needed to ensure that all Texans have access to housing they can afford without the fear of displacement. 

Pre-eviction:

2.2 Establish an actionable Opportunity to Cure

An opportunity to cure period, which allows tenants a window of time to pay back rent before an eviction filing, is a common sense approach that has been adopted by almost all other conservative and southern states30Stringer, M. (2022, January 28). More help coming for struggling San Antonio residents. the city got $4.5m for emergency housing aid. San Antonio Express News. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-emergency-housing-assistance-16813723.php. This approach benefits both tenants and landlords by preventing unnecessary evictions and rental vacancies. SB 38, passed in Texas’ 89th Legislature, establishes a “notice to pay rent or vacate” which is technically an opportunity to cure31 Landlords tried to take tenants’ rights away with SB 38. Our coalition of advocates and community stopped them. (2025, June 4). Texas Housers. https://texashousers.org/2025/06/04/landlords-eviction-tenants-rights-sb-38/. However, this protection has limitations: it only applies to nonpayment of rent cases; it can only be used once in a 12-month period; and it can be contracted down to a single day in a lease. For this opportunity to cure protection to be meaningful and actionable, the ability to contract it down from a minimum of three days must be struck. It should also apply to curable lease violations that are not nonpayment of rent.

2.3 Extend the Notice to Vacate Period

According to Texas law, the first step in the eviction process after a tenant is late on rent is the issuance of a Notice to Vacate, which informs a tenant that they have three days to vacate the property before the landlord files for an eviction in court. This can also be contracted down to 24 hours32Texas State Law Library. (n.d.). Guides: Landlord/Tenant Law: About Evictions. https://guides.sll.texas.gov/landlord-tenant-law/about-evictions . Unlike an opportunity to cure period, extending the Notice to Vacate timeline would not guarantee tenants the chance to avoid eviction by paying overdue rent, as landlords could still file for eviction even if rent is paid during this time. Instead, extending the notice period would provide tenants with additional time to prepare for their eviction hearing, secure legal representation, or find alternative housing, all of which reduce the harms of eviction.

2.4 Fund Emergency Rental Assistance

Emergency rental assistance programs were highly effective in protecting the housing stability, financial wellbeing, and health of low-income households during the COVID-19 pandemic33Airgood-Obrycki, W. (2022). The Short-Term Benefits of Emergency Rental Assistance. Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/research/files/harvard_jchs_short_term_era_benefits_airgood-obrycki_2022.pdf. Some cities, such as San Antonio, have recognized the importance of maintaining a fund to stabilize low-income households through temporary periods of financial shock and maintained their infrastructure to administer rental assistance. The state of Texas should allocate funding for emergency rental assistance, which could be distributed either by local cities or through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, to help tenants avoid eviction and maintain housing stability through periods of financial hardship.

During the eviction trial:

2.5 Establish a Right to Redemption, or “Pay and Stay”

A Pay and Stay protection is another mechanism to stop preventable evictions, displacement, and rental vacancies from occurring. This protection would allow tenants facing eviction for nonpayment of rent to “pay and stay” in their home by bringing their payments up to date at any point prior to their eviction hearing, as long as they do so before the court grants an eviction judgment.

Post-eviction:

2.6 Seal eviction records when the tenant does not lose their case

An eviction filing on a renter’s record (even if the case was dismissed by a judge or the tenant won the case) can cause a renter to face significant barriers in securing future housing, as many landlords view these records unfavorably34 Impact of Eviction on Credit and Future Housing. (2021, January 15). Texas Law Help. https://texaslawhelp.org/article/impact-of-eviction-on-credit-and-future-housing. By sealing eviction records that did not lead to a formal eviction, tenants have a fairer chance at finding stable housing without the lasting stigma of an eviction filing. This process is vital to breaking cycles of housing insecurity, allowing tenants to rebuild and maintain housing stability, and fostering more equitable access to rental opportunities.

Data improvements:

2.7 Institutional investors: establish a rental registry

Many of Bexar County’s highest evicting properties are owned by the same landlords, the majority of which are not local to San Antonio. Establishing a public facing rental registry increases transparency about property ownership, which is particularly important when many of a jurisdiction’s rental properties are owned by corporate landlords with limited ties to the local community. By tracking who owns and operates rental properties and basic information about the property, a usable registry that can be compared to eviction and code data helps identify patterns of negligent or predatory practices, allowing local governments and communities to hold landlords accountable for maintaining safe, stable housing.

2.8 Ensure access to accurate and transparent eviction data in Texas

There is no source from which to obtain clear and comprehensive eviction data for the state of Texas. The Office of Court Administration’s (OCA) open data portal provides monthly updates of “tenant landlord dispute cases” in Texas, however it does not parse eviction cases out from other tenant landlord disputes (such as repair and remedy cases) and is missing data for many counties and courts that fail to report eviction data to the OCA. 

It is clear that evictions are rising in Texas’ urban areas, according to public-facing eviction tracking tools created and updated by organizations like January Advisors in Harris County, Child Poverty Action Lab in the Dallas metro area, BASTA in Austin, and Texas Housers here in Bexar County. However, a lack of clear, accessible data across the state makes it difficult to gauge the full extent of the eviction problem in Texas with full accuracy and nuance, allocate resources where they are most needed, and craft informed solutions that protect low-income Texans from displacement.

Questions, comments, or interested in collaborating? Reach out to Julia Orduña at julia@texashousing.org.