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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/27/23
    First Name: Leslie
    Last Name: St Dre
    Email: lemadre@gmail.com
    Organization Type: other
    Organization: Eno River Tenants Association
  • Comment

    My rent was doubled twice in a matter of two years due to loopholes in rent stabilization in the Bay Area. I was displaced to Durham, NC where I'm seeing the same thing happen to my neighbors. We are fighting to stop this heinous rent gouging that is ruining people's lives. 37 states including NC ban rent control and other tenant protections at the state level, so our cities are unable to do anything to protect their residents. Durham has seen a 300% increase in homelessness since 2017. Both Durham and SF has huge vacancy rates and the landlords aren't dropping the rents. Neoliberal trickle down theories have been debunked. Landlords are simply holding units off the market for years waiting for Big-tech waged people to fill their units, leaving everyone else out. It's time to regulate housing since it is a basic human need. The housing market was built on racism and exclusion. The only way to address the inequality and premature death in BIPOC residents that it has caused, is to finally start to put people over profits. I believe in a homes guarantee. One way to start that is to stop subsidizing greedy, racist, evictor landlords and stop listening to the people who want to extract every last cent from renters.

    Other solutions:

    Rent regulations: Protect tenants from and limit egregious rent hikes.
    Good cause eviction: Prohibit evictions without good cause, ensuring every tenant has the right to a lease renewal. Good cause is defined as serious and repeated lease violations provable in a court of law.
    Ban source of income discrimination: Prohibit landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their source of income including federal housing assistance (i.e., vouchers).
    Freedom from discrimination: Enforce existing laws that prohibit landlords from denying a tenant rental housing based on race, physical or mental ability, and family make-up, and expand protections to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, immigration status, conviction and/or arrest history, bankruptcy history, eviction history, or credit score.
    Safe, quality, accessible housing standards: Require all landlords to keep their properties in good condition, and to ensure homes are accessible for people with disabilities. No renter should have to live in an inaccessible home or in housing conditions that put their health and safety at risk.
    Landlord registry: Tenants should have access to information about their landlord including their name and phone number.
    Tenant right to organize: Tenants have the right to form tenants’ unions or resident councils free from fear of retaliation from the landlord or managing agent. Ownership and management representatives must not interfere with the creation or actions of tenant organizations.
    Fair leases: Landlords must use standardized and clearly defined leases free of abusive terms.
    Office of Tenant Protections: A team charged with protecting tenants and enforcing their rights in properties with federally backed mortgages.