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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/25/23
    First Name: Trenae
    Last Name: Lonetti
    Email: trenaelonetti@gmail.com
    Organization Type: other
    Organization: Individual

  • Comment

    My name is Trenae and I am a tenant living in Phoenix, AZ.  I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

    As a single person it is a burden trying to afford a place on my own. The high rent costs make it hard for me to get by paycheck to paycheck, and make saving to a buy my own home a very difficult endeavor. Inflation and cost of living have gone up incredibly the last few years, however minimum wage stays they same, health insurance premiums and co pays, car insurance premiums and food costs get higher and higher also. This is not sustainable for me and many like me. I have to have a place to live. I work full-time and am modest with my spending, tenant laws have historically always favored landlords. Please stop putting business before individuals in America!

    The rent is too 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, 
    Trenae Lonetti

    * Landlords are raising rents at the highest rates in over 40 years.
    * Median rents in the U.S. have risen nearly 20% in the last two years alone. ( Veiga, Alex. March 2023. “US rent growth easing, but remains a burden for many tenants.” Associated Press.)
    * Nationally, median rent has surpassed $2,000 for the first time ever. ( Arnold, Chris. June 2022. “Rents across U.S. rise above $2,000 a month for the first time ever.” National Public Radio.)
    * In 2023, there is not a single state where a worker employed full-time at the federal minimum wage can afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. (National Low Income Housing Coalition. March 2023. “The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Rental Homes.”)