Comment Detail

Comment

July 27, 2023

To: Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)
Re: Tenant Protections for Enterprise-Backed Multifamily Properties Request for Input

Dear Director Thompson and FHFA colleagues:

As a national network of organizations working to advance a Green New Deal, GNDN understands the inextricable link between the climate and housing crises. As the climate crisis worsens, we urgently need federal policies that ensure all people have access to safe, affordable, healthy homes. With this in mind, we are submitting a response today to the Request for Information on Tenant Protections that the FHFA has issued.

Housing justice is fundamental to our collective vision for a Green New Deal. Across America, the cost of housing is skyrocketing. In cities and towns alike, the dream of homeownership or even a secure rental is becoming increasingly elusive. In addition, decarbonizing our economy to safeguard against the worst of climate change will require a fundamental shift in land use and housing practices, and the federal government has an essential role to play.

Frontline communities need safeguards to protect against mass displacement and gentrification of communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. The Inflation Reduction Act provides $36.5 billion in housing-related tax credit provisions, offering landlords the opportunity to make important upgrades to their buildings to make them energy-efficient, climate resilient, and more cost effective. However, without limits to rent increases in place, these government-subsidized investments could be used as an excuse to hike rents beyond what is fair and reasonable for tenants. The Biden Administration’s Justice40 commitment will only be fully realized if rent regulations and tenant protections are in effect.

To mitigate this risk and to advance housing justice more broadly, GNDN proposes the following:
Rent regulations: Protect tenants from and limit egregious rent hikes. This includes issuing universal rent regulations that protect tenants from and limit rent hikes, especially in the age of the climate crisis. With climate change, the cost of being a renter is increasing. While most of the housing crisis discussion focuses on the cost of rent itself, ancillary costs like utility bills during increasingly hot summers and air purification systems during increasingly frequent wildfire smoke exposures are forcing renters to pay more monthly costs than before. Federal assistance programs fall woefully short of the scale needed. Without government intervention in the U.S rental market, the cost of being a renter will continue to increase, forcing renters to face even steeper rent burdens. Actions should also include conditioning federally backed mortgages on good cause eviction and ensuring tenants have a right to renew their leases. Lastly, tenant protections should extend to the establishment of habitability standards and mandating that landlords keep their properties in safe, accessible condition.
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.

Sincerely,
Priya Mulgaonkar
Senior Policy and Field Manager
Green New Deal Network