[Keilar:] Six months into this pandemic, millions of Americans are struggling to pay their bills. Just today, the Labor Department announced that another 881,000 people filed for unemployment benefits first time last week. And all of this comes as Congress is unable to reach a deal on a second stimulus plan and is currently in recess. In Houston, Texas, where eviction moratoriums have been lifted, some people are being kicked out of their homes after falling behind on rent payments. CNN's Kyung Lah is in Houston with more.
[Bennie Gant, Harris County Constables, Precinct 1:] Hello? Constable, I need you to come at the door.
[Kyung Lah, Cnn National Correspondent:] From one Houston home to the next
[Gant:] Hello, constable.
[Lah:] Deputy Bennie Gant with Harris County Constable's Office executes judge's orders to evict.
[Gant:] Hello? Constable.
[Israel Rodriguez, Evicted From Apartment:] We ain't got nowhere to go.
[Lah:] Israel Rodriguez is a tenant at this apartment, but he's not alone. 20-month-old Israel, his brother, four-year-old Fabian and their mother are some of the estimated 40 million Americans facing eviction in the downward spiral of the COVID economy.
[Rodriguez:] They didn't rush us but they're like, get everything you need.
[Lah:] Rodriguez admits he hasn't been paying rent behind thousands of dollars.
[Rodriguez:] It's my fault on the eviction. It was a lot going on in the corona. When it hit, I lost my job. So it took like a month to get another job. This is my check but I ain't making it with $300. It's literally $300.
[Lah:] Their stroller now carries their possessions.
[Rodriguez:] It's mainly the kids' clothes because me and her, we wear the same clothes almost every day. Make sure we got toilet paper, a little bit of snacks for the kids.
[Lah:] What are you going to do with all of your stuff?
[Rodriguez:] That's trash. They get thrown into trash because we don't have a car, we don't have help, we don't nobody that can come and help us out right now, nobody. We've got ourselves, me and the kids and her. That's it.
[Lah:] How do you feel, as law enforcement, feel about seeing for that family to go?
[Gant:] That's a tough situation. I've got six kids, six children. And, you know, the kids see the mom and dad in desperate situation, it is tough.
[Lah:] Deputy Gant, an officer for 35 years, is just starting his day. Eight evictions are on his list.
[Gant:] Co-defendant is here, two of them.
[Lah:] At each stop, people behind on rent are ordered to leave, possessions, pulled out. Where are you guys going to go now?
[Unidentified Male:] I can go to a hotel.
[Lah:] You can go to a hotel?
[Gant:] Constable.
[Lah:] As Deputy Gant works through his list, we get word that 200 eviction orders have come through the Harris County courts for this week. That's double what they normally saw for an entire month before COVID. 200 on Monday, what does that
[Gant:] Well, that's a lot, yes.
[Lah:] What does that say to you?
[Gant:] Well, what that means is that they're ready to start having people removed from properties.
[Lah:] It is a backlog, but it's also just one precinct in one of America's hardest-hit cities in evictions. The job takes its toll.
[Gant:] I don't really want to put her out here, but I have to under this judge's order.
[Lah:] At this apartment, the tenant is an elderly woman who can no longer afford the rent. The landlord's mover, Francisco Munoz, works though he doesn't want to.
[Munoz:] I have a family, I have a sister, I have my mom, and we never know. Maybe today it's her, tomorrow it's me, you know?
[Lah:] Midway through the eviction, Deputy Gant decides it's too dangerous to evict her in the Houston summer heat.
[Gant:] I'm not going to put her out here in this heat.
[Lah:] And will call social services instead.
[Gant:] But tomorrow, you are leaving.
[Lah:] A one-day reprieve with an uncertain tomorrow.
[Gant:] You have a situation where people aren't working, they don't have money and they're desperate.
[Lah:] The Harris County Constable's Office has put a hold on all evictions for now as they try to sort exactly what does the CDC nationwide eviction moratorium mean. Locally, there is quite a bit of confusion and questions about whether this will be effective at all. Kyung Lah, CNN, Houston, Texas.
[Keilar:] Kyung, thank you so much for that powerful report. It's heartbreaking, right? And it's worth noting millions of Americans are in that situation while the Senate is on a month-long vacation and Congress can't compromise. Next, new outbreaks at colleges and universities, including 800 new cases at one major school. Plus, Alabama now allowing restaurant buffets to reopen but with some ground rules. I'll be speaking with one owner.