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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/26/23
    First Name: Nick
    Last Name: Mariotti
    Email: nickmariotti@duck.com
    Organization Type: N/A
    Organization: Homes Guarantee Campaign

  • Comment

    My name is Nick and I am a tenant living in Silver Spring, MD. Just outside of DC. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

    After our pandemic local rent increase limits expired, my rent increased 15%! As a result, I've needed spend an ever larger portion of my income on housing. And all the apartments in my area are essentially the same price, under the guise of "market rate". Landlords are raising rents at the highest rates in over 40 years.

    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,
    Nick