An additional $4 million in funding will be used for additional legal aid and eviction services for qualifying applicants throughout all of Harris County's 16 eviction-handling courts after Harris County commissioners approved of the agreement at a Dec. 19 meeting.
In Texas, evictions fall under the jurisdiction of Justice Courts, with cases filed in the Justice of the Peace precinct where the property in question is located. Appeals, however, are heard by the Harris County Civil Courts at Law.
- While there are 16 Justice Courts, only four county civil courts hear their appeals.
- Evictions have risen dramatically in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as eviction assistance and moratorium programs ended.
According to Harris County's Office of Administration, that brings a total of $8 million in funding for two agencies that handle the legal needs of eviction cases in Harris County—Lone Star Legal Aid, a nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services and Neighborhood Defender Services.
In October, $1 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act was also allocated to county courts to accelerate processing of eviction appeals.
- Before the funding expansion, legal aid services were only available at half of the eviction courts.
- Since the eviction legal defense program began in April, more than 5,600 people have received assistance including more than 1,000 who received extended legal representation.
- Harris County residents facing eviction can meet with an attorney or legal aid representative at all 16 courts with the funding support.
In 2021, Harris County established the Housing Legal Services Initiative in response to the anticipated increase in evictions, especially for nonpayments of rent due to household financial losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the expiration of the eviction moratorium.
The HLSI makes short-term, noncash disaster relief for qualifying applicants in the form of:
- Consultation
- Referrals
- Legal services
During the first 11 months of 2023, the Harris County Civil Courts at Law reported 7,371 eviction appeals cases—more than double the prepandemic caseload of 3,568 recorded in 2018. The numbers have been rising since 2022, when Harris County Civil Courts at Law recorded 6,279 cases.
“Even with our additional eviction dockets, the surge is creating a bottleneck that impacts our ability to hear all civil cases in a timely manner,” said LaShawn Williams, presiding judge for Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 3, in a news release.
The detailsEviction filings in Harris County are above the prepandemic average with landlords filing more than 121,000 evictions in a span of seven months from January-July 2022. Tenants were represented by an attorney in less than 2% of cases, according to county documents.
Going forward
Also in December, a $25,000 grant was awarded to Harris County Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 court from the Texas Bar Foundation. Officials from the court announced that the grant will be used to create a Legal Resource Center to provide people with access to technology, digital resources and legal forms.
- The resource center is being developed in an existing space at a courthouse in Downtown Houston and is projected to open in 2024.
