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My name is Bailey and I am a tenant living in North Charleston, South Carolina, the eviction capital of the United States in 2018 (Eviction Lab of Princeton). I am a proud member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

I live with my boyfriend of over 4 years and my younger sister in a two bedroom, two bathroom house. We all work in the customer service/hospitality industry, an industry that brings in billions of dollars of revenue for our city and state each year. Without people like us, Charleston and South Carolina as a whole, would not be where it is today. People who work in the hospitality industry tend to be working class folks, people of color, women, Black, etc. and we are the backbone to this industry yet we are being priced out of housing here in favor of "luxury condos". There are next to no tenant protections in South Carolina and their housing courts are completely overrun with working class folks just trying to survive in this city.

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 right to organize, and create an Office of Tenant Protections to enforce these rights in all properties with federally backed mortgages.

The FHFA has the opportunity to support and protect tenants across this country

Sincerely, Bailey Byrum