The West Houston Association is committed to keeping our members informed as our region sees cases of COVID 19 spike. As of 9 am on March 20, the Houston Chronicle reported 329 COVID-19 cases and 5 deaths in Texas. Harris County reported its first coronavirus related death and 24 cases.
Based on guidance from the CDC, leaders have ordered businesses to take precautions and individuals to avoid crowds of larger than 10 people. On March 19, Governor Abbott ordered shutdowns of schools, restaurants, bars, gyms, and other retail venues until April 3. These come after March 13 disaster declarations issues by President Trump and Governor Abbott.
Congress passed emergency legislation (HR 6201, HR 6139), which President Trump signed into law on March 18. These bills will provide individual and commercial assistance in many forms, and we will provide a separate post with a breakdown of these bills. Evictions and foreclosures have been temporarily halted (HUD press release, Harris County).
The IRS extended the tax deadline from April 15 to July 15 for most filers (individuals making less than $1M and corporations making less than $10M).
The Greater Houston Partnership shared a link to the Business Impact Survey, in hopes to gather information about the impact of the COVID-19 in our area.
Understating the uncertainty created by COVID 19 is difficult. Oil prices plunged but appear to have stabilized at close $25 a barrel, which the Wall Street Journal reports will have an impact on commercial real estate. With interest rates at historic lows and unusual conditions, the Greater West Houston residential real estate market, at least anecdotally, has not seen any significant decline in sales or interest.
The West Houston Association has converted its meetings to virtual formats using Zoom and is conducting most of its business remotely (using Microsoft Teams for interoffice communication). We’ve been asking our partners what virtual tools they use and will produce a post on virtual meeting tools soon. Greater Houston Partnership has compiled some exemplary resources related to COVID 19.
If you have news or questions that impact Greater West Houston, please email info@westhouston.org.
Augustus L. Campbell
President/CEO | West Houston Association
o.713-673-8311 | acampbell@westhouston.org