Even though there’s a nationwide moratorium on evictions through the end of the year, we are seeing more of them in some places.
Landlords are finding ways around the freeze instituted by the CDC, which ordered on Sept. 4 the temporary halt to renters getting the boot. The program requires renters to sign a declaration form.
In the weeks since that order was issued, in greater Fort Worth alone, 2,281 eviction filings have been made, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. The lab tracks these notices in two dozen markets around the country.
Help available for renters struggling during the pandemic
A big legal effort with a lot of money behind it was launched this month by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. It’s called the Texas Eviction Diversion Program.
The rental assistance pilot program started in 19 Texas counties: Bee, Bexar, Brazos, Chambers, Deaf Smith, El Paso, Erath, Fannin, Grayson, Harris, Jim Wells, Kleberg, Montgomery, Palo Pinto, Parker, Potter, Randall, San Patricio, and Wise.
The state is planning to roll out the program statewide on Nov. 9.
You can click here to find help specific to your region of the state.
Stop TX Eviction, a collaboration between the major legal aid providers in Texas, is also offering free help to renters who are falling behind.
Fidelity hiring hundreds in North Texas (again)
Fidelity is hiring 550 people for its Westlake office in North Texas. They just announced a big hiring event in North Texas in April.
These are new openings. More info on the available positions can be found here.
We highlight this because if you look at the graph at the bottom of page 1 here, you will see that--of all the major employment sectors--the financial industry is the only one that added jobs here from August of last year to August 2020.