The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released a summary of thousands of responses it received after issuing a Request for Input (RFI) concerning how the agency can create and enforce renter protections for households living in rental properties with federally backed mortgages. The RFI followed the publication by the White House last year of a Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights announcing that FHFA would launch a process to conduct stakeholder outreach to help identify opportunities and challenges involved in adopting and enforcing tenant protections. The summary highlights several themes that emerged in the RFI comments and states that the FHFA intends to continue its public stakeholder engagement process in 2024.
The summary notes that a broad range of stakeholders engaged in the RFI: tenants and tenant advocates, nonprofits, lenders, multifamily borrowers, multifamily property owners, housing providers, landlords, developers, government officials, elected officials, and mortgage industry groups. The comments therefore represent a wide range of views. Respondents commented on several key themes: rent regulations, habitability, property maintenance, safety issues, the need for further research by the FHFA, and the authority of FHFA and the Enterprises to implement and enforce tenant protections.
The summary notes that respondents “generally supported banning source of income (SOI) discrimination on any legal source of income.” However, no other themes had such general support. Themes suggested by other comments about reducing barriers to housing included actions the Enterprises could take to support fair housing laws, provide uniform screening criteria to every prospective tenant, and minimize displacement due to rent increases. Themes in the “Access to Information” section of the RFI included model lease agreements, transparency around leases and hidden fees, educating multifamily property owners and tenants, and suggestions regarding a “rental registry/database/portal.” Several respondents commented on tenant stability, and themes from this section focused on reports of high yearly rent increases, property owners taking action to reduce evictions and engage in eviction diversion and rental assistance programs, and the need for “just cause evictions.” Finally, respondents commented on data gaps and FHFA transparency around potential tenant protections, while also encouraging FHFA to assess future policies for risks of reducing the Enterprises’ stability, liquidity, and affordability in the multifamily housing sector. A section on Risk Management included many comments citing industry fears that enacting tenant protections would limit the FHFA’s ability to continue supporting the multifamily housing market.
Because more than 12 million renters live in properties with federally backed mortgages, any renter protections created by FHFA could cover a significant share of renters across the nation and put the country on a path towards stronger protections for all renters. NLIHC and advocates from around the country showed strong support for federal tenant protections by submitting comments and working with national, state, and local stakeholders to voice their support (see Memo, 8/7/2023).
Read the FHFA’s summary here.