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My name is Saba and I am a tenant living in Chicago, IL.  I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

My rent has been hiked by 100 dollars, and my neighbors’ rents have been hiked by as much as 1,000 dollars. When I initially signed my lease, the property company attempted to increase the rent without telling us. This resulted in me and all of my roommates, who are students, to work additional hours. Nationally, median rent has surpassed $2,000 for the first time ever. I do not know anyone in my immediate area that pays rent below $2,000, with all of these tenants being students.

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, 
Saba