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My name is Blanca and I am a tenant living in Merced, Ca. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

When I first moved to Merced my rent was $980 and over the last few years it has spiked up. Right now I amy paying 1,200, it's expected to be going up next month. Califonria law says they cannot hike up our rent more than 10%, but a 10% from 1,200 is too much. I live with my siblings to help with the cost of rent and everything else and I am blessed that we make more than the average of most that live in this city. But in the work I do, I see families struggle all the time and they have to move away because the cost becomes so burdensome that they cannot pay and they end up getting threatened with eviction. I don't want to see my community continue to suffer.

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,
Blanca Ojeda