CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship July 10
July 10, 2020
Texas Hotspot Edition. This week, we track the hardships connected to one of the 38 states (includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) with rising COVID-19 caseloads: Texas. Decisions to reopen without adequate preparation are powering the caseload surge nationwide, with 59,880 cases on July 9, the sixth single-day record in the past 10 days. As of July 10, the U.S. had more than 3.1 million cases and 133,000 deaths. The spiking pandemic brings more than sickness – it also inflicts severe economic hardships. Below you can see how Texas and Houston have very high earnings losses; nearly two-thirds of Houston’s households included someone who lost earnings. Large proportions of people in Houston and Texas did not have enough to eat sometimes or often in the previous week, and even higher numbers could not pay their rent. There are looming deadlines making this a very dangerous time. On July 25, the moratorium on evictions from federally-subsidized or backed units will expire, and on July 26, the $600/week in Pandemic Unemployment Compensation will end. Instead of providing timely assistance to stave off disaster, the Senate recessed until July 20.
The Senate must join the House in enacting COVID recovery legislation similar to the House’s HEROES Act as soon after its return as possible.
240,025; 680% |
Texas COVID cases as of July 10. Daily cases rose from 1,270 on May 1 to 10,909 July 9, a 680% increase in average daily cases. Daily deaths rose from 25 on May 1 to 102 on July 9. Tweet this.
|
Nearly half or much higher |
In Texas, 46% of households included someone who had lost earnings from work (64% in Houston Metro area) between March 13 and June 30. For Latinx: 65% (TX) or 79% (Houston). For whites: 44% (TX) or 49% (Houston). For Blacks: 57% (TX) or 66% (Houston). For Asians: 49% (TX); 43% (Houston). Tweet this.
|
2 to 3 times |
In the Houston Metro area, Latinx households with children were more than 3x as likely as whites to report they sometimes or often did not have enough to eat in the past week (29% vs. 8%). Nearly 19% of Black households reported similarly going without food, as did almost 10% of Asian households. Tweet this.
|
One-third |
32% of Houston Metro area people who were not currently employed did not pay or deferred their May rent. For Latinx households, 32% did not pay/deferred rent; for Black households, 22%; for white households, 12%; for Asians, 11%. Tweet this.
|
2,758; 2.57% |
Eviction cases filed in Harris County, TX (includes Houston) from June 1 to July 9, according to January Advisors. Only 2.57% of the defendants in these cases had attorneys. Tweet this.
|
90 minutes |
How long it took to give out the $15 million allocated by the city of Houston for rental assistance on May 13. 17,000 people applied. Tweet this.
|
Zero out of 5 |
Texas is one of 9 states that scored zero out of 5 in Eviction Lab’s scorecard of policies to protect tenants in evictions. There are 9.6 million renter households in the state.
|
$100 billion |
Funding for emergency rental assistance passed by the House in the HEROES Act to prevent a surge in evictions once the federal moratorium on evictions expires. Action in the Senate cannot occur until they return July 20.
|
15 days |
How many days before the moratorium expires on evictions from federally subsidized or backed rental units (July 25). Property without such federal backing in many places are already losing protections (in Texas, starting mid-May).
|
1.3m; $799m |
If Congress fails to extend the $600/week Pandemic Unemployment Compensation past its July 26 expiration, 1.3m people in Texas will start losing $799m per week (Century Foundation)– funding that up to now has provided Texas’ people with $7.6b in benefits that helped to prevent evictions and hunger.
|
Subscribe:
