Rent

To answer that question, we need to go back to World War II and the era of federal rent control.

Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin all ranked among the top 10 cities for new eviction filings in early April, among the 31 cities tracked by Eviction Lab.

The county received more than 3,300 applications in the first week alone. By comparison, fewer than 1,000 people applied over six weeks to a similar program last year.

Advocates warned last month that the county could continue to lose money until it's all gone.

Hays County is one of 14 entities across the country that's having funds taken back by the federal government for failing to meet spending deadlines.

A recent audit of the program found that, as of Sept. 30, Hays County spent about $166,000 — or 2.4% — of the nearly $7 million it was awarded from the federal government.

Many families are under financial stress, parents see kids seriously behind in school, huge rent bills and looming evictions and delayed medical care has negative consequences, to name a few.

When it launched in February, the Texas Rent Relief program struggled to help tenants who'd fallen behind on rent due to the pandemic. In the first six weeks, just 250 Texans got help, out of the 72,000 people who applied.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is moving to extend an order aimed at preventing evictions during the pandemic. Housing groups say the order could prevent up to 1 million evictions.

Renters can apply for up to 15 months of current, future or past rent as far back as April 2020.