Washington, D.C. – President Biden will soon announce a proposal to temporarily cap rent increases by large landlords at 5% for two years, a policy that would affect half of all rental properties in the U.S. The proposal is part of a larger set of comprehensive policies to address the housing crisis through increased supply and other means.
“President Biden’s proposal to temporarily cap rent hikes to prevent rent gouging is historic,” said NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel. “Recent, unprecedented increases in homelessness in communities across the country are the direct result of equally unprecedented – and unjustified – rent hikes that occurred in the pandemic’s aftermath. Had such protections against rent gouging been in place then, many families could have avoided homelessness and stayed stably housed. But rather than waiting for Congress to advance anti-rent gouging measures after the election, President Biden can and should take action now to put in place these and other critical protections for renters living in properties with federally backed mortgages, as called for by NLIHC and renters nationwide.”
Renters face a brutal and largely unregulated housing market that permits landlords to raise rents as high as the market will allow, without regard to the impact on tenants with low incomes. In addition to raising rents, corporate landlords are increasingly charging junk fees and other predatory fees, further increasing costs for low-income renters. Renters – particularly those with the lowest incomes – have severely limited options in this housing market, and low-income tenants facing exorbitant rent increases or excessive fees often have little to no ability to move to new homes. The lack of national renter protections, including limits on rent gouging, leaves tenants vulnerable to housing instability and evictions.
While NLIHC supports urging Congress to enact legislation to prevent rent gouging through reasonable rent stabilization, the Biden administration can and should immediately implement clear, strong, and enforceable renter protections through the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), including those renter protections enshrined in the National Tenants Bill of Rights published last month by NLIHC and other national leaders. Such action would prevent housing instability and homelessness for many tenants, redress long-standing racial and social inequities, and advance housing justice. The comprehensive policy agenda laid out in the National Tenants Bill of Rights includes banning unreasonable rent increases to provide greater predictability and stability for renters.
Top priorities for FHFA renter protections, as outlined by NLIHC and the NLIHC-led Tenant Collective, include:
- Source-of-income protections to prohibit landlords from discriminating against households receiving housing assistance and to give families greater choice about where to live.
- “Just cause” eviction standards and the right to renew leases to help protect renters from housing instability.
- Anti-rent gouging protections to stop landlords from dramatically raising rents.
- Requirements to ensure housing is safe, decent, accessible, and healthy for renters and their families.
Strong and enforceable renter protections are critical to any comprehensive strategy to end America’s housing and homelessness crisis. Other needed solutions, as pursued by NLIHC’s national HoUSed campaign, include bridging the gap between incomes and housing costs through universal rental assistance, building and preserving homes affordable to households with the lowest incomes, and preventing evictions and homelessness through emergency rental assistance.