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My name is Caleb Keen and I am a tenant living in Louisville, Kentucky. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

I am currently moving back home with my mom. My rent is too high. They are raising my rent from $795 (plus all the fees and things puts it at $916 a month) to $835 a month (making it actually $956). That may not seem like a lot, but I am autistic and already struggle to pay the rent as is working 40 hours a week. I can't pick up more hours because it absolutely tanks my mental health and my ability to function.

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
Caleb Keen