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My name is Kit and I am a tenant living in Lexington, Kentucky. I have moved 7 times in 5 years in the constant attempt to find affordable housing without major quality of life issues. I work for a nonprofit and have a limited income, but still think I deserve to live somewhere with reliable electricity and heat, no mold or animal infestations, and functional kitchen and bathroom appliances. This is difficult even in a relatively affordable city like Lexington and I have worked between two and four jobs since graduating college to afford housing.

I have seen in my own life, my work, and my friends and family that housing is the most powerful tool for improving people's quality of life, health, and economic and social wellbeing. People with reliable and affordable housing can get better jobs, take more calculated risks in their careers, improve their health, build a community, and participate in civic life. In Lexington, I know from a community wide survey (On the Table 2022) that over 2,400 Lexington residents rate housing affordability as the number one most important factor for making Lexington's economy work for all residents. The federal government has a unique opportunity to help millions of Americans reach a baseline level of safety and comfort that will empower them to make their communities better.

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.