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When I purchased my home in 2020 I was shocked at the time that the cost of my rent was more than the cost to pay the mortgage on my new house. 3 years later, and many of my friends who rent are reporting exorbitant rent hikes which would be out of my price range today. The conditions of some of these places are squalid, some of which are infested with bugs and mold, others with appliance or utility issues which go unaddressed by the management.

There are countless stories from around our city where people have been wrongfully evicted and unable to represent themselves fairly to prevent becoming homeless. To add insult to injury, some have found it hard to find new leases due to a variety of discrimination racial, gender, disability, and source of income discrimination being common.

Some of the solutions my colleagues and I propose are as follows:
1. Rent regulations - prevent egregious rent increases
2. Fair lease terms and increase tenant protections - hold landlords accountable for illegal discrimination and ignoring poor conditions
3. Legally mandated safe, accessible housing standards
4. Right to tenant organizing - give tenants the power to collectively push back against their landlords
5. Good cause evictions - evictions should require evidence with provable serious and repeated lease violations
6. Landlord registry - tenants should be able to know who their landlord is, and how to contact them
7. Office of Tenant Protections - We need a dedicated team whose goal is to protect tenants and enforce their rights in properties with federally backed mortgages

Without action, the housing affordability crisis in Charleston, SC will continue to balloon, and the implications are dire.