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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/30/23
    First Name: Syd
    Last Name: DeWitt
    Email: thesydflanagan@gmail.com
    Organization Type: other
    Organization: Home Guarantee Campaign

  • Comment

    My name is Syd DeWitt and I am a renter living in Chicago, IL. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

    I have been a renter since 2016 and the amount of rent I’ve had to pay in those years has increased drastically. I’ve had to pay over $1,000 for a studio and have had to live with multiple roommates to afford a place to live. We need rent control and protections for renters. We shouldn’t have to pay over 30% of our income just to live.

    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.

    Thank you,

    Syd