Earlier this year, Princeton University’s Eviction Lab came out with a harrowing statistic: Austin’s eviction filings are the highest number they’ve been since 2020. During the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, Austin applied an eviction moratorium, but they returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 when the ban was lifted and have since continued climbing.
On Tuesday, local tenant organizing group BASTA (Building and Strengthening Tenant Action), a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, presented its findings to the City Council Housing and Planning Committee, explaining what Council can do to curb this worrying trend.
“I’m not excited about the numbers,” said BASTA’s Shoshana Krieger, “but I think there’s a lot of opportunities for us to be making inroads on this issue.”…