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My name is Rebecca and I am a tenant living in Charleston, SC. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

I currently live with my sister and her boyfriend in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in Park Circle. Before this I had to move back in with my parents after finishing college. During college, my parents had to pay my rent while I also had a job during school since even with my job, I could not afford my own rent. I pay very minimal rent living with my sister and her boyfriend because they have been very gracious and allow me to live here without high rent. Without their generosity, I would still either have to live with my parents or live an extremely cramped life in an apartment with many roommates. I have lived in Charleston for the majority of my life and have seen all the loopholes that other people, both my age and older, have had to jump through in order to stay in apartments that are not even up to living standards. In downtown Charleston, I have seen some of the worst living conditions including mold, borderline condemned homes, rotting floorboards, ceilings cracking and falling in, and many others that I could probably write a book about but seemed so normalized at the time. One of the scariest living conditions I ever saw was right on King Street where one of my best friends lived. An apartment above her had a pipe issue which leaked into her ceiling. Her and her roommate reported it immediately to their property management group and they said they would send someone out. Soon, when no one arrived they reached out again and again. The water damage in the ceiling was getting worse and the dripping water was a dark brown and disgusting. They began to fear for their safety since when they moved in, they already had to sign a waiver acknowledging that due to the age of the home there was the potential of lead paint and asbestos in the walls, but it was fine as long as the walls, floors, ceilings, etc. were not damaged. With dirty, potentially moldy and lead or asbestos ridden water kept pouring down into their apartment, they continued trying to get in contact with a property management group that could only be described as negligently avoiding their calls, emails, texts, etc. Finally, a large portion of their ceiling caved in, sending chunks of potentially hazardous material and water into the center of their living room, only a few feet away from their kitchen area where all their food was stored. My friend ended up staying with me until she could finally get her landlord to respond, 3 days after the ceiling caved in and the upstairs neighbors also began placing urgent calls since they were concerned their floor would give out as well. At least 3 different apartments worth of renters had to threaten to press charges and not pay rent until the property management upheld their portion of the lease. This is far from the only horror story I have seen first hand and unfortunately will not be the last. This has solidified to me, along with many other issues, that until landlords are forced to take action for properties that they own, they do not care about the health and safety of anyone they rent to. The only thing they care about is the money that they gain from renting. All of this, for apartments that no one can afford to rent in this town. Locals have been forced to the outskirts of the city, but then have to drive to the downtown area and pay exorbitant rates for parking just to get a job that can help them pay their rent for an apartment that is 30-45 minutes away. Landlords who can charge $400/unit to make their mortgage in Charleston can just as easily charge $800 and pocket the rest. And who says they will stop there? Without laws in place to protect renters landlords will continue to hike rent, avoid paying money on necessary repairs, and overall taking advantage of what should be a human right for all but results in a fat bank account for them. The government is supposed to be by the people and for the people, not for nameless and faceless businesses that happen to send a fat check every campaign cycle.

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.

Sincerely,
Rebecca