Comment Detail

Comment

To FHFA:

We need to protect renters and ensure the availability of housing for everyone. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Rent regulations. Protect tenants from and limit egregious rent hikes. I lived in apartments whose owners wanted to nearly double my rent. Needless to say I could not afford this and had to move.
2. Good cause eviction. Prohibit evictions without good cause, ensuring every tenant has the right to a lease renewal. Good cause is defined as serious and repeated lease violations provable in a court of law.
3. Ban source-of-income discrimination. Prohibit landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their source of income, including federal housing assistance (i.e., vouchers), alimony/child support, or Social Security.
4. Freedom from discrimination. Enforce existing laws that prohibit landlords from denying a tenant rental housing based on biological sex, race, physical or mental disability, and family composition, and expand protections to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, immigration status, conviction and/or arrest history, bankruptcy history, eviction history, or credit score.
5. Safe, quality, accessible housing standards. Require all landlords to keep their properties in good condition and to ensure homes are accessible for people with disabilities (i.e., ADA compliant.) No renter should have to live in an inaccessible home or in housing conditions that put their health and safety at risk.
6. Landlord registry. Tenants should have access to information about their landlord including their name, contact information, number of properties owned, numbers of evictions, numbers of tenant complaints/resolution, and building inspection results/violations, and repairs.
7. Tenants' right to organize. Tenants have the right to form tenants’ unions or resident councils free from fear of retaliation from the landlord or managing agent. Ownership and management representatives must not interfere with the creation or actions of tenant organizations.
8. Fair leases. Landlords must use standardized and clearly-defined leases written in plain language and free from exploitative terms.
9. Office of Tenant Protections. Establish a team charged with protecting tenants and enforcing their rights in properties with federally-backed mortgages.

I suggest FHFA follow the following principles:

1. Tenant Leadership. FHFA must continue to engage with and follow the leadership of tenants and people directly impacted by the rental market.
2. Mandatory Requirements. FHFA must apply tenant protections to all landlords with a federally-backed mortgage and all rental properties, including larger multifamily properties and smaller one-to-four-unit properties. Tenant protections should not be incentivized or volunteer-based.
3. Enforcement. Landlords who violate FHFA’s tenant protections should be found to be in technical default and should not be eligible for future loans. FHFA must make this information publicly available.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.