Tenants

The tenants union, launched Sunday, is intended to help students handle issues common to many renters in the city, such as escalating rents and delayed repairs. It plans to hold biweekly meetings and advocate for more affordable and accessible housing.

An ordinance passed during the pandemic gave tenants 90 days to pay overdue rent, fees and any additional charges before a landlord could begin the eviction process. But the ordinance is set to expire Friday, when the COVID disaster declaration ends.

For some local relief programs, a lack of staffing, political support and effective community outreach got in the way of spending federal funds to prevent evictions, a new report found. More than $30 million went unspent and had to be returned.

Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas is running a new program where lawyers show up in most Travis County eviction courts to offer representation for tenants.

The court's six conservative justices said the CDC exceeded its authority by issuing the two-month pause on evictions in much of the country.

Austin is a city of renters: 55 percent of households here rent. The number drops slightly when you look at Travis County. That got KUT’s Audrey McGlinchy…