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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/25/23
    First Name: Cindy
    Last Name: Hwang
    Email: cindyhwang93@gmail.com
    Organization Type: other
    Organization: Homes Guarantee Campaign

  • Comment

    My name is Cindy and I am a tenant living in Brooklyn, New York. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

    In the past year, my rent has increased by 5% — and it likely would have gone up by more, had it not been for NYC’s rent stabilization laws. Every tenant deserves strong protections like mine — like many others, I probably would have been forced to move if my rent had significantly increased.

    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,
    Cindy Hwang