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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/31/23
    First Name: Kathryn
    Last Name: Hedges
    Email: biolartist@gmail.com
    Organization Type: other
    Organization: Affordable Housing Network
  • Comment

    Rents are too high across the country, not just in major metropolitan areas. Rents increase too fast in proportion to income growth at the lower end of the scale, and this includes affordable housing with rents indexed to the Area Median income. Reasonable limits on rent increases that allow for increases in actual costs are necessary to keep landlords from pricing tenants out of the market in the community where they have social ties. Displacement of renters from the highest rent markets drives up rent in communities further away so that people who aren't getting major metro area salaries are priced out of these rural areas. This is why homelessness is rising across the nation as ordinary tenants can't earn enough to pay the rent.

    And without just cause eviction protection, landlords can get around rent control by evicting tenants for no reason except to reset the rent to market rates. So rent control must be coupled to just cause eviction regulations.

    If these changes limit the profitability of housing built with Federal funds, where did it ever say in the housing regulations that the Federal government would guarantee maximum investment income? These funds are to provide housing, not profit, dividends, high salaries, or bonuses.