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Comment

I am a tenant living in Oxnard, CA. I am a member of the Homes Guarantee Campaign.

I am precluded from living the same city my grandparents lived in because the rent is too damn high, wages are too low, and my student debt burden will slowly drain my savings once payments resume. I am barred from living the modest life that I would like to have in the location I would like to be due to the fact that wealthy people (landlords) are allowed to use a fundamental human right -- housing -- as a mechanism for leeching money from comparatively poorer people (renters).

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.