Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services sent a letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Sandra Thompson on August 23 urging the agency to use its full authority to provide permanent, meaningful protections for tenants living in FHFA-financed properties.
Led by the Committee’s Ranking Member, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), the letter was signed by Representatives Al Green (D-TX), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Nikema Williams (D-GA), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), and Steven Horsford (D-NV). The letter requests that the FHFA take meaningful action to protect renters from egregious rent increases and evictions while also:
- Setting reasonable limits on rent increases for FHFA-backed properties.
- Implementing standards to ensure FHFA-backed housing is safe, accessible, high-quality, and energy efficient.
- Ensuring tenants’ right to organize through tenant associations and tenant unions and creating an Office of Tenant Protections to enforce the new rules and regulations developed by FHFA.
- Strengthening anti-discrimination protections – including protections from source-of-income discrimination – and ensuring compliance with fair housing laws.
- Prohibiting evictions without just- or good-cause.
“In the wake of the pandemic, we have seen exponential pressures on renters and the housing market, showing how volatile our nation’s housing crisis has become and the challenges it poses to equitable economic recovery,” writes Ranking Member Waters in the letter. “Maintaining the status quo is no longer sufficient…FHFA has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect renters and help stabilize our nation’s housing market for all.”
Read the letter from Ranking Member Waters and the other House Finance Committee Democrats here.