The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on July 12 the introduction of minimal new renter protections in properties receiving a federally backed mortgage. These policy changes will do little to protect renters from the power imbalance between tenants and landlords that fuels racial inequities and puts the 114 million people who rent their homes at greater risk of housing instability, harassment, eviction, and homelessness.
“FHFA’s announced changes provide a bare minimum of tenant notification but fail to provide any of the protections needed to address the pressing challenges renters face in today’s brutal housing market,” said NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel in a press statement. “FHFA and the Biden administration should use all available levers to immediately provide real, meaningful protections against predatory and abusive landlord practices that expose renters to discrimination, housing instability, and homelessness. In comments submitted to FHFA, renters overwhelmingly called for such protections – the Biden administration should listen and act.”
Under the FHFA policy, any property receiving a new federally backed mortgage would be required to provide tenants with 30 days’ notice of any rent increases, 30 days’ notice of any lease term expiration, and a minimum of five days for late rental payments. These protections will be required for new loans signed on or after the policy effective date, February 28, 2025.
NLIHC urges FHFA to immediately implement clear, strong, and enforceable renter protections, including those in the National Tenants Bill of Rights published last month by NLIHC, the National Housing Law Project, and the Tenant Union Federation, to prevent housing instability and homelessness, redress long-standing racial and social inequities, and advance housing justice. We encourage individuals, organizations, elected officials and candidates for elected office to endorse the National Tenants Bill of Rights here!
Top priorities for FHFA renter protections, as outlined by NLIHC and the NLIHC-led Tenant Collective in response to FHFA’s Request for Information on Tenant Protections, include:
- Source-of-income protections to prohibit landlords from discriminating against households receiving housing assistance and to give families greater choice regarding 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.
At a minimum, any renter protections established by FHFA should be:
- Informed through continued engagement with renters and directly impacted people.
- Focused on racial and social equity as an explicit goal.
- Mandatory for all landlords and all rental properties, including multifamily and one-to-four-unit properties with an existing or future federally backed mortgage.
- Paired with strong enforcement. Landlords who violate renter protections should be found to be in technical default and should not be eligible for future loans.
Strong and enforceable renter protections are critical to any comprehensive strategy to end America’s housing and homelessness crisis. Other needed solutions, as outlined in NLIHC’s national HoUSed campaign, include investments to bridge the gap between incomes and housing costs through universal rental assistance, build and preserve homes affordable to households with the lowest incomes, and resources to prevent evictions and homelessness through emergency rental assistance.
Read the FHFA announcement here.
Read more about the National Tenants Bill of Rights here. We encourage individuals, organizations, elected officials and candidates for elected office to endorse the National Tenants Bill of Rights here!