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"My name is Em and I am living in Bo mean MT. I am a member of Bozeman Tenants United and the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

Growing up in Bozeman I have watched my family who is upper middle class have to start to consider groceries and budget more and more, and we are VERY lucky and also have a stable income. I have listened to my coworkers who are students skip meals and take extra jobs just to pay rent on time. It’s unacceptable young people especially deserve to not have to live paycheck to paycheck, just to keep a roof over their heads and books in their hands.

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,
Em Williamson

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