Eviction filings are more than 50% higher than the pre-pandemic average in some cities. After a lull during the pandemic, eviction filings by landlords have come roaring back, driven by rising rents and a long-running shortage of affordable housing. There was also $46.5 billion in federal Emergency Rental Assistance that helped tenants pay rent and funded other tenant protections. Forty of the state's 62 counties had higher eviction filings in 2022 than before the pandemic, including two where eviction filings more than doubled compared to 2019. But as protections went away, housing prices skyrocketed in Austin, Dallas and elsewhere, leading to a record 270,000 eviction filings statewide in 2022.

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Persons: —, Dana Williams, Williams, De'mai Williams, it's, haven't, Daniel Grubbs, Donovan, Ayanna Pressley, Maria Jackson, Jackson, It's, Russell Weaver, Oscar Brewer, Ben Martin, Rio Yamat Organizations: Service, Princeton, Houston, Nashville, Phoenix, Income, Coalition, Rental Assistance, Democratic U.S . Rep, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Cornell University, Housing, Democrat, Income Housing Coalition, New, Philadelphia — Locations: Atlanta, New York, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, St, Paul, Rhode, Ayanna Pressley of, Rochester . In Texas, Austin, Dallas, Texas, New York City, Philadelphia, arears