Comment Detail

Comment

Tenant rights and protections up to and including rent control are vital to families' ability to thrive. I've been a renter in Washington DC, Berkeley CA, and Las Vegas NV, and spent 60% of my income on housing alone. I had an apartment flood twice one summer due to heavy rain. The landlord made me clean it and did not compensate me for my damaged property. I've had maintenance requests that weren't addressed for the entire lease, and then I was penalized for the damages that their negligence caused. I've had a lease broken by the landlord because they wanted to sell the property despite me fulfilling my part of the lease. This caused me to be unhoused for three weeks as well as forced me to incurre unexpected storage costs and losing hours at work because I had to move out in a rush. During covid, I had to pay $6,000 to get out of a lease. I paid it because I had no other choice. I could not afford to have an eviction on my record, but it took months of living in austerity to get back on my feet. Many people may have never recovered. Rent control to address rental rates, rental rate hikes, fees, and penalties must be instituted nationally to begin establishing affordable housing. Recourse for tenants that are dealing with unresponsive landlords/property managers is also a huge part of what tenants need to happen effectively immediately.