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My name is Dominic and I've rented all my adult life. I live in Lexington, Kentucky. In college I commuted 45 minutes both ways everyday from my parent's house instead of living on campus because living in the city would have pushed me into debt. I started renting when I got a job in the city. Every year I have to give up my time looking for somewhere to live or take whatever price my current landlord decides to set. It shapes every part of my life because where you live determines how and with who you spend 99% of your time. Regardless, every year the rents tick up, eroding the gains I make in salary so that I am treading water instead of making process in my life. Median rents in the U.S. have risen nearly 20% in the last two years alone.

If the government is going to subsidize landholders-- which it does in spades -- it should at least protect tenants.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency should protect limit annual rent hikes to 1.5 times the Consumer Price Index or 3% -- whichever is lower -- in properties with federally backed mortgages.

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.

Dominic Pealer