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Comment

My name is Karsyn, and I am a tenant living in Las Vegas, Nevada. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

It’s no secret that the economy is going terribly for the average American. I work so many small jobs just to cover my housing as it is, and I need tenant protections to survive. Housing insecurity is one of the most stressful experiences anyone can go through. In 2023, there is not a single state where a worker employed full-time at the federal minimum wage can afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. We’re experiencing a full-on crisis, and it’s important now more than ever for the government to stand by the average American and support tenant rights.

The cost of rent is unprecedented and becoming increasingly unfeasible for the average working-class American. 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.

Protect tenant rights. Protect American families.

Best Regards,
Karsyn Wilson