One Crisis Away

The economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the financial lives of many Texans, leaving many renters unable to pay rent.

The new stimulus bill passed by Congress late Monday will avert a potentially catastrophic and historic wave of evictions, at least temporarily. Lawmakers agreed to a $900 billion relief deal that would, among its provisions, send another $25 billion in rental assistance and extend a nationwide eviction moratorium.

Though the city has hired a company to haul Shingle Mountain away, residents of Floral Farms in southeast Dallas say tearing it down would be just the start of the recovery process. They're calling for more to be done, including the implementation of a plan that will address racial zoning.

Activists have been calling for the city to tear down Shingle Mountain, a site they've described as a symbol of environmental racism.

The residents of Choate Road in southeast Dallas have seen the rise of Shingle Mountain, a more than 70,000 ton toxic waste dump that was created by a recycling company. Now, they hope the City of Dallas keeps its promise to tear the mountain down.

Federal relief dollars are being used to buy and renovate hotels.

Instead of having over 1,000 volunteers take the the street on one night in January, local homeless response teams will spend two weeks in February canvassing Dallas and Collin Counties to try and get an accurate count.

The Capital Good Fund offers an alternative to payday and auto title loans, and other credit services that come with high costs and a lot of risks for borrowers.

Drug laws are the same all across Texas, but enforcement varies from county to county. And in Tarrant County, District Attorney Sharen Wilson says rehabilitation is a better way to deal with drugs.

Housing experts expect a wave of evictions when a national moratorium expires at the end of December. To get ahead of the surge, the City of Dallas is piloting a legal assistance program with Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas.

If Congress doesn't compromise and pass another relief bill, a new study finds a staggering number of Americans will lose a critical financial lifeline as the pandemic worsens.

Construction workers are five times more likely to end up in the hospital because of COVID-19 than other workers, according to new research from UT Austin’s COVID-19 Modeling Consortium. The study highlights the importance of access to health care, paid sick leave and workplace safety protocols to slow the spread of the disease.