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Comment

I am a renter and tenant organizing volunteer in Arlington, Virginia, and have seen the impacts of exorbitant rent increases on families in my neighborhood. Even in this relatively affluent community, 20% of households struggle to afford basic necessities of rent, food, clothing, and medicine, according to the United Way’s ALICE Report ( https://www.unitedforalice.org/county-reports-mobile/virginia ). Housing costs are rising exponentially and more and more people in my community are becoming rent-burdened.

I believe tje Federal Housing Finance Agency should limit 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. This will protect tenants from displacement and protect neighborhoods against gentrification.

In addition to these limits on rent increases, I believe the FHFA should prohibit evictions without good cause, enforce and expand existing protections against discrimination, and ban source of income discrimination - particularly against tenants with federal assistance vouchers. The FHFA should also require loan recipients to provide safe and accessible housing conditions, fair and standardized leases, and ensure tenants have the right to organize without retaliation.

The FHFA should create a landlord registry and an Office of Tenant Protections to enforce these rights in all properties with federally backed mortgages. This office should also pilot a right-to-counsel program to ensure that tenants facing eviction have legal representation.