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Comment

Director Thompson,

One of the main obstacles I have encountered to "affordable housing tenants", is that the govt does not screen the tenants for reliability, integrity, or honesty. Many landlords would participate in the affordable program if they could be more assured that the tenants were more reliable, more honest, and had more integrity to care for the home they occupy. Slumlords are born from the reputation that affordable tenants and the government have created and endorsed by their actions and that is that affordable tenants are dishonest, unreliable and have no care for the home they are occupying - and so landlords are worn down and are "coerced" into giving up on affordable tenants. If there were some trainings, "requirements" for care of the property, and more assurances for landlords that their property would be appreciated and not scorned, ignored, or carelessly abused, it is possible that more landlords could be convinced to provide units for "affordable tenants". Unfortunately, the "system" is currently perceived as one sided in favor of tenants, rather than a cooperative between landlords who can afford to own and tenants who are working their way toward ownership, or tenants who understand that caring for their home is important. Without a shift in the government's position that the tenant is the only part of the affordable housing equation that has rights, there will be fewer landlords willing to risk their hard earned capital and investments in a one sided social exchange that all but ignores the landlords rights and interests. I think of it this way - a landlord with a good experience with "affordable tenants" will strongly consider more of the same, but a landlord who is abused, exploited, ignored, or enslaved will not only personally reject "affordable housing" efforts, they will lobby against those efforts using their personal experience as the facts behind their opinion. End of my 2 cents.

Now the NAR "Party line" part of the email
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Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your Request for Input (RFI) on how the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), in its oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, can best provide affordable housing opportunities for renters. Approximately 40% of the National Association of REALTORS®'s (NAR) 1.5 million members own at least one rental housing unit, playing a vital role in providing safe, quality, and affordable housing in neighborhoods nationwide.

As the FHFA examines ways to improve access to affordable housing, it is critical to acknowledge the most significant driver of housing unaffordability is the limited supply of available housing. According to NAR data, the United States has an underproduction gap of over 5.5 million units – a key underlying reason housing costs have increased. On top of this, inflation has increased the prices of goods and services for all Americans. As housing providers strive to provide affordable housing opportunities in their communities, they also contend with rising mortgage rates and increased costs for supplies, services, and maintenance. When inflation is high, the prices of materials increase. That means it becomes exceedingly more expensive for construction teams to build new homes or renovate existing ones. Ultimately, these high costs spill into the housing market and lift home prices for new builds and existing housing.

As REALTORS®, we are committed to upholding the very specific provisions of our contracts with residents, and we often go above and beyond what is required to ensure residents have safe, quality, and affordable places to live. Rental housing is a deeply complex issue that is unique to every community. Creating additional layers of policies to a space that is already heavily regulated by state and local governments will have severe unintended consequences for renters as housing providers are leaving the market in communities where affordable housing is sorely needed.

Affordable housing is pivotal to creating paths to upward mobility for people across the country. I appreciate your commitment to ensuring we achieve this goal without impeding the creation of much-needed housing supply. Heath Coker