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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/31/23
    First Name: Cheryl
    Last Name: Dulaney
    Email: eglashelle@gmail.com
    Organization Type: N/A
    Organization: Bozeman Tenants United + Homes Guarantee Campaign

  • Comment

    My name is Cheryl and I am a tenant living in Bozeman Montana I am a member of Bozeman Tenants United and the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

    I live in one of these apartments. They take advantage of us because we are on fixed income and disabled. They have raised the rent three times and I am scared that I will be pushed out. Castlebar apartments used to be a nice place when I moved in. Now they ruined everything with the renovation. The door doesn't work and I live in fear. When I tell them I am being treated badly they say there is nothing they can do. I have been given 8 eviction notices but I am never late on rent.

    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.

    Sincerely,
    Cheryl