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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/26/23
    First Name: Mary
    Last Name: Senger
    Email: Msenger13@gmail.com
    Organization Type: N/A
    Organization: Homes guarantee campaign

  • Comment

    My name is Mary and I am a tenant living in Albany, NY. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

    In 2021, my roommates moved out and I was still underemployed but my landlords still increased the rent on my rental, causing me and my partner to have to move out and find cheaper housing. Even now that we are making more money and renting in a different city for a lot more, we are struggling to build a savings with the amount of rent we pay.

    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,
    Mary