Comment Detail

Comment

My name is Felipe Silva and I am a tenant living in Las Vegas NV. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

As a teacher in Las Vegas I hear and see the direct impacts of rent going up during and after the pandemic. Most families are not earning enough to keep a roof over their heads and provide the rest of household needs. It is important to ensure they tenants can afford to continue living where they’ve established their lives. No one should be making a profit anytime someone gets out on the street because they can’t afford to pay their rent.

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,
Felipe