Amount of Tarrant County evictions is more than residents receiving rental help

(Maria Ziegler/Unsplash)

By Madelyn Edwards

(TARRANT COUNTY, Texas) As the federal moratorium on evictions is set to end Saturday, there seems to be a gap between renters in Tarrant County who are getting assistance versus those who need help, according to the Fort Worth Report. 

According to court records, almost 1,200 eviction cases were filed by landlords in June, while about 500 renters received emergency rental assistance in Tarrant County. In 515 of the eviction cases, the tenant or defendant didn’t show up to court, resulting in default judgement. 

As of June 30, Tarrant County, Fort Worth and Arlington gave about $4.4 million to help over 800 households, but the three localities received much more than that in federal emergency rental assistance. The need may be greater than the assistance being given out, as over 30,000 households are said to owe about $96 million in back-rent in Tarrant County, according to the latest U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey data.

Arlington has paid about $860,000 — about 170 payouts — of the $21.5 million federal rent relief funds the city received.

“We work with both apartment complexes, we work with our county and with the city of Fort Worth to help those people in need,” Arlington Mayor Jim Ross said. “The problem we get a lot of times is that when you get a bunch of applications that come in, it is often the case that the applications are incomplete and unable to get processed.”

The Neighborhood Services Department in Fort Worth oversees the Emergency Rental Assistance program and has initiated over 8,700 applications for rental aid. 

“As of right now, I think we’re in good shape, and we just want families to get back on their feet as well as quickly as possible,” Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said. 

See the websites below for information on rental assistance: 

• City of Fort Worth
• Tarrant County
• Texas Rent Relief Program

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