AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and ruled to uphold a national moratorium on evictions through July 31, but the CDC said it's the last time it'll extend those protections for renters.
Local leaders in Austin said they plan to extend those protections even further, and they said landlords who are still struggling can get help, too.
"Our goal for working families in Austin should be that nobody's getting evicted simply because they were affected by this pandemic," said Austin City Councilmember Greg Casar.
Casar said as other cities deal with more evictions, Austinites should be safe for now. The City's rules said tenants could be evicted if they haven't paid rent for at least five months, but that won't happen until both the renter and the landlord have applied for help and gotten a reply from the City.
"There is funding available now, and you should be applying for city, county and state funding because we want to help tenants, renters and those mom-and-pop landlords that are behind on rent," said Casar. "We are working really fast to get back to everybody that applies."
Earlier this month, the Austin City Council approved $42 million from the American Rescue Plan Act for rent assistance.
"We're going to extend eviction protections beyond the federal protections. We will announce those rules in the coming days," said Casar.
If you believe you qualify, you can apply for the RENT program online. An email address is required in order to apply.
For those who are approved to receive assistance, rent payments will be made directly to the landlord. Housing resources, eviction information and resources for paying utilities and housing services can be found on the City of Austin website.
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