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  • Comment Detail

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

  • Comment

    Finding affordable housing is nearly impossible, Bozeman is expensive and many people make too much to qualify for government assisted housing. And even then other bills make is hard even when making a livable wage. I also worry that rent control will incentivize “luxury apartments” to get around this requirement. All in all Bozeman is kind of nuts for housing and drives people away.

    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.