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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/31/23
    First Name: Grace
    Last Name: Doney
    Email: gkdoney02@gmail.com
    Organization Type: other
    Organization: Bozeman Tenants United + Homes Guarantee Campaign

  • Comment

    My name is Grace Doney and I am a tenant living in Bozeman, MT. I am a member of Bozeman Tenants United and the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

    Finding an apartment in or around Bozeman has been a hopeless endeavor. Currently I am on the search for an apartment and the idea has more than once crossed my mind that I will need to leave Bozeman. I’ve searched for apartments in 3 states other than Montana, finding many options within an affordable range for a single person in much higher population densities than Bozeman. And even though I can find countless apartments out of state that I can afford, I do not wish to leave the Gallatin Valley. But those are my remaining options: Spread my finances thin on an apartment I can’t afford, or leave the town I was born and raised in, leave the town my family has been in for 5 generations.

    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,
    Grace Doney