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"My name is Emma and I am a tenant living in Bozeman, MT. I am a member of Bozeman Tenants United and the Homes Guarantee Campaign.
I have lived in Bozeman for 10 years. The first apartment I rented cost $1200 for a 3 bed and that same place now rents for over $2400, with no major renovations. I have moved 5 times in 3 years, chasing affordable rent, especially as a dog owner. My partner and both work full time for the Bozeman School District and are barely able to make ends meet. When he was forced out of his home of 10 years, a property owned by MSU who did no maintenance or upkeep) we were almost homeless. We now live in a basement unit of woman's house because most rentals were too expensive and application fees threatened to cost us weeks of groceries..
It should not be this difficult for two responsible adults to afford a dignified rental.

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,
Emma"