Council discusses whether to keep, end COVID-related renter protections

San Marcos City Council has called into question the viability of a continued 90-day eviction moratorium.

Councilmembers devoted an hour of their Monday night meeting to discuss the city's Eviction Delay Ordinance, which requires landlords to give tenants a Notice of Proposed Eviction and allowing them 90 days to pay past due rent.

“We are now almost three years into this, and I'm concerned with the long-term ramifications on the properties themselves,” said Councilmember Mark Gleason, adding that landlords could be motivated by the ordinance to raise the rent for future tenants.

“Those [costs] are going to get passed on, and they get passed onto the next renter," he added.

According to Director of Public Safety Chase Stapp, the $4.1 million Hays County received in Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) funding has already been spent, and little to no local funding remains. Additionally, Hays Precinct 1 Judge Jo Anne Prado wrote in an email to council that rescinding the ordinance would cause “somewhat” of a surge in evictions, predicting an estimated 50 eviction proceedings would follow from the repeal.

Councilmembers Alyssa Garza and Maxfield Baker supported keeping the moratorium in place, arguing the city has not done enough to educate tenants or landlords on their rights.

Specifically, Garza pointed out “a lack of awareness that this ordinance even exists.”

“What I’ve been hearing and what I’ve seen is a lot of folks aren’t even going through the eviction process,” she said. “A lot of folks are not even aware or empowered with the knowledge of their rights, and so they are feeling pressured to vacate their home[s].”

State and local initiatives

In Feb. 2020, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs launched its Statewide COVID-19 Rental Relief Program.

The program provided $2 billion in emergency funds to help Texas renters pay rent and utility bills amid COVID-related financial strain.

On March 15, 2020, City Mayor Jane Hughson issued a Disaster Declaration, activat(ing) the recovery and rehabilitation aspects of all applicable local or jurisdictional emergency management plans and authoriz(ing) the furnishing of all aid and assistance as deemed necessary by those administering such plans.”

The following April, city council adopted its own renter protections, passing an ordinance requiring landlords to serve tenants a Notice of Proposed Eviction before a Notice to Vacate and allowing 90 days for tenants to pay any overdue rent incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The moratorium was extended through Jan. 3, 2021 in the COVID-19 Response and Relief Bill and applies to renters “with incomes below $99,000 (below $198,00 for dual-income households) who have made a good faith effort to seek rental assistance, and have tried to make timely partial rent payments and are likely to become homeless if evicted,” according to the city website.

Resolution

Council took no formal action during the meeting but instead raised the following questions for Prado and Hays Justice of the Peace Pct. 1-2 Maggie Moreno:

• If the state’s Disaster Declaration is no longer in effect, what does that do to the city’s declaration?
• When tenants are evicted, does it impact their credit?
• Were there consequences for landlords who took ERA money and still evicted tenants?
• How many cases were filed for eviction but did not result in eviction and why? How many applied for assistance and did not get assistance?
• How far was the average person behind on rent before COVID? How far behind is the average person behind on rent with the moratorium?

Councilmembers will await the justices’ responses and revisit the ordinance at a future date.