Social & Educational Impact

Exploring how COVID-19 impacted housing, food insecurity, and education in Greater Houston

While criminal charges and incarcerated populations are falling, the three-county area still faces troubling disparities. 

The data

Rent/Mortgage Payment

Housing costs typically comprise the biggest expense for households. When large numbers of people lose their jobs and incomes, housing vulnerability increases. Families are at a risk of falling into homelessness, among other challenges.

The majority of Houstonians report being able to pay their rent or mortgage on time. However, homeowners are more likely to be current with housing payments than renters. Between May 12-24, 2021, about 24% of renters are behind on payments compared to 5% of homeowners. While a larger proportion of homeowners have been able to make housing payments since the beginning of the pandemic, renters appear to continue to struggle to do so. Earlier in 2020, homeowners were more likely than renters to have payments deferred, affording them extra time to pay.

Renters are more likely to be Black and Hispanic, which means these communities are disproportionately impacted by rent — and the consequences of not paying — during the pandemic. 

A large proportion of Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans in Houston report not being able to pay their mortgage or rent on time. In late-February, a staggering 45% of Black homeowners reported not being able to pay last month’s mortgage. Among renters, 19% of Asian-American, 19% of Hispanic, and 42% of Black renters reported not being able to pay last month’s rent compared to 16% of white renters.

Looking into the future, renters are consistently about twice as likely to have lower confidence in being able to pay the next month’s rent than homeowners. Over the last several months, an average of 42% of renters are worried about future housing payments compared to 21% of homeowners.

During the survey conducted between February 17 and March 1, 2021, 41% of renters reported “no” or “slight” confidence in making next month’s payment compared to 14% of homeowners. Owners were twice as likely as renters to expect payments to be deferred. About 40% of Hispanic and 55% of Black renters reported low confidence compared to 33% of white renters during the same time period. About 20% of Hispanic and Black homeowners reported low confidence in making next month’s payment compared to 9% of white homeowners.

Evictions and Foreclosures

A number of local and federal efforts have been made to protect families from evictions during the pandemic. Government and private rental and direct financial assistance funds have been established and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a moratorium on evictions. Despite these efforts, evictions have still been happening at an unprecedented rate.

Houston is among the top three cities for the most evictions during the pandemic, according to Eviction Lab. Nearly 26,300 evictions have been filed in Harris County alone between March 1, 2020 and March 10, 2021, according to the Evictions Dashboard created by January Advisors. Most evictions have occurred in the Greenspoint, Spring Southwest, Eldridge/West Oaks, and Alief areas. This official figure is likely an undercount as many evictions in our region happen without a paper trail. 

Families who are evicted face significant challenges. Many are forced to find subpar housing, move in with others, live in cars or go to shelters, while some end up homeless.¹ This is particularly dangerous during a pandemic as overcrowding can facilitate the spread of disease. Moreover, it is nearly impossible to follow CDC guidelines regarding social distancing, staying home, and regular hand hygiene without a permanent residence.

Houston metro renters are consistently much more concerned about being evicted than homeowners are about foreclosure. In February 2021, 33% of renters who are behind on housing payments reported a high likelihood of losing their home within the next two months compared to 16% of homeowners. Hispanic and Black renters consistently report the highest likelihoods of evictions.

Food insecurity

Food insecurity is most common amongst people living below the poverty line, minorities, single adults and single-parent households. Although it is closely linked to poverty, people living above the poverty line also experience food insecurity. This is particularly true during the pandemic when many more households face economic hardship due to employment and income losses and have difficulty accessing food due to fear of catching the virus and limited transportation options.

Since April 2020, about 15% of households in the region have “often” or “sometimes” not had enough to eat. Among households with children, that rate climbs to an average of 20%. Since the Census Bureau began tracking in mid-April 2020, food insufficiency for families peaked around the end of October/early November and then again in late February, likely a result of the severe winter storm that knocked out power and water for about a week for millions of Houstonians.

At the end of May 2021 in the Houston Metro Area, 11% of all households reported “often” or “sometimes” not having enough food to eat. The Houston Metro Area has had the highest rate of reported food insecurity among metros 11 times out of the 30 surveys conducted by the Census Bureau, including the one which occurred during and immediately after Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.

For households with children, food insecurity at the end of May 2021 was 13% — among the lowest since the pandemic began. More than one-quarter of Black households with children were food insecure at the end of May 2021 compared to 6% white families with children.

Education impacts

The way children “went to school” was transformed in the pandemic’s early months as districts and campuses moved to online learning. While the lasting impacts of the pandemic on learning and academic outcomes is still unclear,  research suggests the pandemic has and will continue to severely exacerbate pre-existing opportunity gaps that put low-income students at a disadvantage relative to their better-off peers.⁴

According to survey data between March 17 -29, 2021 from the U.S. Census Bureau, about 37% of students in Houston MSA have spent less time on learning activities relative to before the pandemic. In this most recent survey, Hispanic and white students were most likely to report spending less time on learning. This question was discontinued by the Census Bureau after March 2021.

Higher education plans have also changed. Among adults who were planning to pursue education beyond high school, about 43% have canceled their plans and 33% will take fewer classes.

Among adults who canceled their higher education plans, 75% cite financial constraints as a reason.

Digital Divide

Even before the pandemic, consistent and reliable access to a computer and the internet was considered a modern necessity to learning. The pandemic has made it even more critical as families decide whether to send their kids back to school in-person or remain virtual. Recent preliminary research suggests online learning and teaching are effective only if students have consistent access to the internet and computers.⁵ Texas has made substantial efforts to reduce the digital divide among its students, and we can see that progress over time.

The most recent data from the Household Pulse Survey shows the majority of Houston children always have a computer or other digital device available for educational purposes. Hispanic and Black children typically have the lowest rates of reliable access, making virtual learning impossible and limiting their resources and technical ability. Students were more likely to report never having a device available early in the pandemic, particularly between mid-April and mid-July 2020 and in late February, possibly due to the widespread power outages resulting from Winter Storm Uri.

Only 60% of students in Houston reported always having access to the internet in late February. Similar to their access to computers, children from Black households had less consistent access than their white counterparts.