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

We've had cheaper than average rent since 2019 and have been consistently worried about what would happen if our rent was hiked or we had to move since then. We've watched countless friends have to leave town due to rent being doubled with 30 days notice and consistently feared that for ourselves. After 4 years, we have been told we have to leave our home so the new out of state owners can renovate it for themselves. While looking for comparable houses, we can expect a 50%-100% increase in our 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,
Cole
"