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Comment

My name is Rebeca and I am a tenant living in Chicago in the South Shore neighborhood. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign. For the two years, I’ve been experiencing rising rent prices that have increased the financial stress in my life. I’ve been speaking to neighbors on my street who are also experiencing rising rents along with unsafe conditions in their apartments such as mold, rats, and inhumane eviction notices.

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,
Rebeca