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My name is Aiyana and I am a tenant living in Chicago, IL. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign. Though I do not live in a federally-funded property, I am no stranger to rent hikes and the damage and stress that they can cause, even with my immense privelege. I've had relatives move around the city and state because they can no longer afford the rent of the place they've lived in for years.

The rent is simply too damn high. In 2023, there is not a single state where a worker employed full-time at the federal minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom apartment. 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,
Aiyana Leigh