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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/17/23
    First Name: Jazmyne
    Last Name: Ware
    Email: Jware@familyscholarhouse.org
    Organization Type: N/A
    Organization: Heritage green

  • Comment

    My name is Jaz’Myne and I am a tenant living in Louisville, KY]. I am a member of the Louisville Tenant Union.

    I have been living in my current apartment complex for over a year now. When I initially moved in my rent was $833 which included a $44 water fee. Once I renewed my lease my rent went from $833 to $904. The rent takes most of my check which already was leaving me scrapping the barrel. Now, I have had to move bills to different parts of the month just to make ends meet. I grew up being told to go to school , get a college degree and respectable career and I will be able to live comfortably. Now, that is NOT the reality we live in. My parents dream of me having my own home has been crushed. I could never afford anything more than an apartment, not with my salary. For context, I have a masters degree in social work and make 42k a year and I can barely afford a 2 bedroom 650square foot apartment. This is a PROBLEM! They raised our rent because they got a loan or something from the bank and had to make things look nice. We didn’t have fire extinguishers for over a year…they put two in each hallway and guess what? Raised the rent!! For something they were supposed to do in the first place. Their maintenance sometimes walks into homes without knocking or checking if they have permission to enter without me there. I am a 23 year old female who lives alone, things are hard enough but having people come into my apartment without notice? Issues on top of issues.

    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,
    Jaz’Myne