Comment Detail

Comment

My name is Annette Hines and I have been a tenant living in the apts in Sandy Hook, KY in the past]. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

I rented there 30 years ago but know many of the current and past tenants. For a small town the eviction rate for these apts is ridiculous. The rent has gone up because of renovations but I haven’t seen any change in 30 years. The manager is still taking other benefits tenants received such as extra electric allotments tenants receive. There is limited low income housing in this town so if your evicted you end up sleeping in a car up some hollar. These apts have total control over the tenants for fear of an eviction. Once you have an eviction you can not get into public housing any where. When you don’t have a high school education, a spouse and have a child you are vulnerable. My niece is currently living in her car because instead of working with her as she was trying to better herself, finished her GED and got a job at the local gas station they evicted her. Tenants in these low income apts need protections, especially in small rural communities. No one protections the most vulnerable in these communities. My niece didn’t understand all the rules and regulations about getting a job and her rent changing, she needed someone to explain what was going on. She didn’t get the first eviction notice so she missed the hearing, the manager could have walked 500 feet to discuss the first proceeding with her but just wanted her out. So the next to get her out, she tried to explain that she had a son and a new job and just needed time to figure things out. They told her she had 7 days to get out. There is no other rental housing in this rural community. The cops and social worker showed up on her door 7 days later, she lost everything she owned which wasn’t much. Now her son is 2 hours away at her mothers, while she sleeps in a car staying near her job, trying to keep it. This has been happening for over 30 years at the same property. They also have ridiculous rules they enforce like sitting outside, you are not allowed to sit or hang out outside your apt building. I was told 30 years ago I couldn’t take my infant daughter outside to play on the grass and that rule is still being enforced to this day. You are told that it makes the apts look trashy. You are told as well you are not allowed to organize or you will be evicted! Again tenants need protections, especially in rural small towns.

I would enjoy taking you to meet some of the past and current residents, off site of course. Contact me if you are ever interested.

The rent is too damn high. The Federal Housing Finance Agency should protect tenants by limiting annual rent hikes to 1.5 times the Consumer Price Index or 3%, whichever is lower, in properties with federally backed mortgages. These limits should be applied universally as a requirement to all federally backed mortgage programs.

In addition to limits on rent hikes, the FHFA should prohibit evictions without good cause, ban source of income discrimination, enforce and expand existing protections against discrimination, require safe and accessible housing conditions, create a landlord registry, require fair and standardized leases, ensure tenants have the rights to organize, and create an Office of Tenant Protections to enforce these rights in all properties with federally backed mortgages.

Sincerely,
Annette Hines

Landlords are raising rents at the highest rates in over 40 years.
Median rents in the U.S. have risen nearly 20% in the last two years alone.
Nationally, median rent has surpassed $2,000 for the first time ever.
In 2023, there is not a single state where a worker employed full-time at the federal minimum wage can afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.