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My name is Esther and I am a tenant living in Miami metro area in Florida.  I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

I have gone from a 1000$ dollars rent to $1,900 rent. Every beginning of the month I run out of funds by the first week of the month and have to use my credit cards. In a few months my lease will be up and the landlord can choose to rack up the rent another $400-500 without batting an eyelash. It is getting unsustainable for me to live here and be relatively close to work. In a matter of a few years - rents here have doubled, Miami has become more gentrified and there are no rules about these astronomical prices. The landlord has a right to evict after 3 days of non payment. I go without so my rent is paid on time but I am afraid if they hike the rent again in December I will be forced to move. However, safe apartments for a single BIPOC female who works full time and is reasonably priced are nearly impossible to come by.

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,
Esther