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

My rent has increased by 6% in just two years -- that's insanely fast. As a student balancing multiple jobs, this is not an easy change to adjust to! Additionally, the increasing prices all around and the expense of moving means that I don't have a choice but to pay this amount. My landlord doesn't treat us well; between the unfixed issue of power outages, moldy kitchen sink, gaping hole in the wall, broken laundry machine. If there were more affordable housing options, I could have the choice to choose a better landlord.

Outside of myself as an individual, 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! I can't imagine how I would have dealt with that, especially with the struggles of the pandemic.

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,
Grace