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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 06/07/23
    First Name: Rebecca
    Last Name: Powell
    Email: rapowell4@gmail.com
    Organization Type: N/A
    Organization: Self

  • Comment

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

    There are so many people in the United States facing housing insecurity currently, which is absolutely inexcusable in a country as rich as we are. Landlords are raising rents at the highest rate in 40 years right now, with nothing to hold them accountable to actually taking care of the properties that their tenants rely on. Median rent in the country is now over $2,000, which is just not attainable for so many people.

    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