Rent

A recent study found nearly half of Austin's renters are paying a third of their paycheck (at least) on housing. Another showed renters need to make $26 an hour to comfortably afford a one-bedroom here.

This month, the average rent for an apartment any size is $1,679 a month — $34 less than it was this time last year.

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs will take applications for rental assistance until noon on Thursday, almost two weeks earlier than planned.

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.