Comment Detail

Comment

The Honorable Sandra Thompson
Federal Housing Finance Agency
Washington, D.C.

Director Thompson,

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Request for Information on tenant protections. I am writing to share my experience and to urge FHFA to take bold action to create strong, enforceable, and clear renter protections for households living in rental properties with federally-backed mortgages. Given the broad reach of the FHFA’s work, any renter protections created should cover a significant proportion of renters across the country and put America on the path toward stronger protections for all renters.

I am a current tenant of a multi-family apartment building. During my time living here, I have watched rental prices increase far beyond my budget to the point where I could not afford to renew my lease today if I had to. In fact, the pricing for my current unit was already a big stretch of my budget when I moved here but all of the other apartment buildings in the area are price-matched to the same very expensive price range. Not only have new rental rates been increasing, but they do so on a volatile daily rate like a hotel room. Why are long-term multi-family apartment units being treated and priced like hotel rooms? Safe places to live should be a right, and NOT a commodity for someone to make egregious profits from. Action needs to be taken to reverse the exceedingly high rental price hikes as well as inhibit future egregious rental price hikes to avoid further damage to many people. One strategy for accomplishing this goal is Rent Regulations to protect everyones’ access to affordable living spaces.

Another aspect of price hikes that is often predatory and harmful are the lease documents. These legal documents contain highly specific legal language that creates predatory yet legally binding terms that most people could not understand unless they have worked their way through law school. This type of behavior is predatory and intended to only benefit the landlords at the expense of their tenants. Vague “admin fees” are a phenomenal example of one such predatory term contained in leases. In response to this issue, it is imperative that a structure be set up to ensure fair leases that can be understood and consented to by the lay person without the need for the presence of a legal expert as their consultant. An example of such a structure is an Office of Tenant Protection that is charged with protecting tenants and enforcing tenants’ rights in properties with federally backed mortgages.

I want to expand a bit on the quality/safety of my current housing to show that I’m not paying a higher price for higher quality housing. There is a ~1/4 inch gap that is continuing to grow between my baseboards and my floor. I say roughly ~1/4 inch because the size of this gap varies depending on where it is measured. Additionally, I can feel that the floor in my unit is wavy in places and I can see that my walls are not square. I have actually tripped before because there is that much of a height difference. The same can be seen and felt throughout the hallways of all of the buildings. This type of sagging suggests that the building is settling and that the subfloors, the joists, or both are not doing well in accommodating the structural movement. I’ve even heard that others have had spots of their floor fall through into the apartment below them. This is concerning for me because the subfloor and joists are the only thing supporting the floor that I’m living on. With the amount of waviness I see and feel in some places around the buildings, I don’t feel particularly safe living here. Even worse, other places similar in price were worse in other ways (e.g., smelled like mold). To add to this, the AC units in our hallways are frequently broken and are thus uncomfortably warm (80 degrees F). The windows were supposed to be washed by a contractor a month or two ago, but the contractor never washed our windows or most of the windows from the other buildings. Additionally, my AC went out and I lived with an average indoor temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit for 4-5 weeks before it was finally fixed. Even worse, the first contractors who were called in to fix the AC were not only rude, but would immediately interrupt with off topic information when I tried to answer their questions. When I looked up reviews for this company, I discovered that their service is widely known to be unprofessional, but this was the only contractor that corporate would authorize. I found out later that this first AC contractor did not even complete the work that they claimed to have completed! It took an entirely different second AC contractor, who corporate fought back on allowing the maintenance team to call, to fix my AC after living with an average 80 degree Fahrenheit indoor temperature for 4-5 weeks. Why is the maintenance team only allowed to use a predetermined list of corporate-approved contractors when it is obvious that a contractor from that list is not capable of providing the service necessary? To help address these issues, a tenant should have the right to contact a reputable repair service of their choice that is comparable in price to other options in their area. This tenant-selected-contractor should then have the ability to complete the service and then directly bill the property management, corporate owner, or landlord. This would encourage improvements in the quality and timelines of service, as well as the health and safety of tenants. Further, addressing this concern is imperative as landlords are currently incentivized by the market to hire the lowest cost contractor to complete work. However, contractors that are significantly cheaper tend to take more shortcuts in craftsmanship to cut costs than others whose services may be a bit more expensive due to higher qualifications (e.g., certifications) and better craftsmanship. Thus, this tendency to always hire the cheapest contractor leads to a significant detriment to both the quality and safety of housing both in the short and long term. Everyone should have the right to safe, quality, and accessible housing.

At another multi-family property where I lived I was aggressively threatened with eviction because I wanted to put a parking pass sticker on my rear window instead of my bumper. I explained that I would rather place the sticker on my rear window to avoid any potential damage to the paint on my bumper, and that the sticker was as visible or even more visible on my rear window. I thought this was a win-win, as his stated reason for the bumper placement was visibility. When he aggressively and unprofessionally refused, I asked if he would be willing to pay for damages if the sticker did harm the paint on my bumper. His response was to threaten me with eviction unless I placed the sticker on my bumper. Regardless of all else, this situation is not appropriate for eviction considering I always paid on time and kept/returned my unit in good condition. I believe this situation is a perfect example of the need for “Good Cause Evictions” that prohibit evictions without good cause, and ensure every tenant has the right to a lease renewal. “Good Cause” can be defined as serious and repeated lease violations provable in a court of law.

I have expanded on some of the issues that I have experience with above, but I would also like to point out a few other areas where tenants rights are needed.
Banning source of income discrimination. Landlords should not discriminate against tenants based on their source of income including federal housing assistance (i.e., vouchers).
Freedom from discrimination. Enforce existing laws prohibiting landlords from refusing a tenant housing based on race, mental/physical ability, and family structure. Additionally, expand protections to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender expression/identity, immigration status, conviction and/or arrest history, bankruptcy history, eviction history, or credit score. Many of these histories are systemic and withholding these protections perpetuates this systemic discrimination.
Landlord Registry. Tenants should have access to information about their landlord including their name and phone number.

I’m pulling this last one out because I find it important. Tenant Right to Organize. Encourage and protect tenants’ right to form tenants’ unions or resident councils free from fear of retaliation from the landlord or managing agent. Ownership and management representatives must not interfere with the creation of or actions taken by tenant organizations. Tenants should never be discouraged or stopped from joining together to work toward safer and better quality housing.

In summary, the current housing and rental housing conditions are actively harming real people in a vast number of ways including but not limited to, price hikes; abusive lease documents; lack of access to safe, quality, and accessible housing; unethical evictions; discrimination; and threats to tenants’ right to organize. I have outlined a number of my own experiences to show real life examples of these issues, and I have provided some concepts and strategies for addressing the need for stronger tenants’ rights. If nothing else, I hope that you are hearing that we need tenant protections and we have needed them for a while now.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Tenant