Comment Detail

Comment

Dear Director Thompson and FHFA team,

My name is Andrea Zang and I live in Lexington, KY . I’m writing in response to the FHFA Multifamily Enterprise Housing Goals Proposed Rule Comment Request: ‘Community Support Requirements, (No. 2022–N–11) Multifamily Enterprise Housing Goals Proposed Rule.

We pay $1,548 in rent, which is more than we can afford. My partner and I both have good jobs but we are one maybe two emergencies away from not being able to make rent. Before this July, when I worked at a grocery store, we were going into debt to buy food. My partner is a faculty member, what about households where both partners work a low-wage job? We are all struggling to make rent.

The rent is too damn high and I’m counting on FHFA to take every possible action to regulate rents for all properties with federally backed mortgages. If our public money is financing the business of making money on our homes, the least that you can do as a regulator is attach conditions to these resources that benefit the people. FHFA has successfully taken bold action in the past to help protect tenants during COVID-19 and to look out for residents of manufactured housing, and I am counting on FHFA to take similar action to help tenants like me during this time of intense economic hardship.

I am a member of KY Tenants and a leader with the Homes Guarantee campaign. The Homes Guarantee campaign is led by over 52 tenant-led organizations from all corners of the country. We have a long term vision for a world where everyone has access to safe, sustainable and TRULY affordable housing. In the short term we are organizing to win an executive order on rent regulation from the President— see more here: https://damnhighrent.com

Thank you for your attention to this matter. If you would like to get in touch with me, please contact Grace White, the Homes Guarantee Organizer at g.white@peoplesaction.org.
Sincerely,
Andrea Zang