NLIHC and advocates from around the country showed strong support for federal tenant protections by submitting comments to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in response to its Request for Input (RFI) concerning multifamily tenant protections. NLIHC submitted an organizational comment letter, signed by 352 organizations, as well as a more detailed comment letter informed by tenants who joined our Renter Protections Working Group, which met several times in June and July. NLIHC’s 2022-2023 Tenant Leader Cohort also submitted a comment letter recommending protections, as did the Partnership for Just Housing, an organization convened by NLIHC and four other organizations, which voiced support for tenant protections that center the expertise of people with direct criminal-legal system involvement. Additionally, U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chair Sherrod Brown (D-OH) led a letter to FHFA Director Sandra Thompson signed by 16 other U.S. senators urging FHFA to implement tenant protections. NLIHC will continue to work with FHFA to advance tenant protections while keeping advocates updated on how the agency can most effectively implement federal tenant protections.
From May 30 to July 31, tenants and advocates organized to brainstorm how the FHFA, which oversees the Federal Home Loan Banks as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (“the Enterprises”), could create and enforce renter protections for households living in rental properties with federally backed mortgages. NLIHC, along with partner organizations, rallied tenant leaders and advocates to voice their support for strong and enforceable tenant protections.
NLIHC circulated a letter supporting four particular tenant protections: (1) source-of-income protections to prohibit landlords from discriminating against households receiving housing assistance and to give families greater choice about where they live; (2) “just cause” eviction standards and the right to renew leases to help protect renters from housing instability; (3) anti-rent gouging protections to stop landlords from dramatically raising rents; and (4) requirements to ensure housing is safe, decent, and healthy for renters and their families. In an astounding show of support for these policy proposals, 352 organizations endorsed the letter.
NLIHC’s comment letter was informed by NLIHC’s members and advocates around the country, who joined six meetings of the Renter Protections Working Group throughout June and July. In addition to the four tenant protections identified in the organizational letter, NLIHC’s members advocated for the FHFA to create a rental registry of Enterprise-backed properties; strongly enforce any tenant protections; ban or limit rental application fees; limit credit checks for applicants; require any tenant screening criteria to be transparent for tenants; allow for tenant screening reports to require only one-time costs and be portable; require language accessibility for people with limited English proficiency and for people with disabilities; create a model lease; provide a minimum notice period and communications for evictions; affirm the right to organize for tenants in Enterprise-backed properties; and require landlord-tenant mediation combined with emergency rental assistance.
NLIHC’s 2022-2023 Tenant Leader Cohort letter commends FHFA for soliciting public feedback on tenant protections for buildings with federally backed mortgages. The Cohort is comprised of tenant advocates and community leaders with lived experience of housing insecurity who work towards housing justice and racial equity in their neighborhoods and greater communities. NLIHC collaborates closely with the Tenant Leader Cohort to inform policy priorities so that these priorities best reflect the needs of low-income renters. The Cohort’s letter presents several recommendations for improving tenant protections, including: (1) source-of-income protections; (2) “just cause” eviction standards; (3) anti-rent gouging protections; (4) habitability and accessibility requirements; (5) promotion of tenant rights and racial equity; and (6) improvement of data collection.
The Partnership for Just Housing (PJH) also submitted a letter to FHFA. Convened by the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), VOICE of the Experienced, the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted People and Families Movement (FICPFM), and the National Housing Law Project (NHLP), PJH is a national collaborative of directly impacted leaders and other advocates working to end housing discrimination against people with arrest and conviction histories. In the letter, PJH advocates for specific tools the FHFA could use to “prevent housing provider practices which unfairly exclude people with records and their families from GSE-backed housing.” PJH recommends that FHFA consider limitations on tenant screening and application fees; allow for one-time and portable screening reports; make transparent criteria by which tenants are screened; protect against rent gouging; and require “just cause” eviction standards.
Senator Brown also urged FHFA to create new tenant protections in a letter co-signed by1 6 other Democratic senators, including Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), John Fetterman (D-PA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Bob Casey (D-PA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). “There have been repeated reports of investors using low-cost financing from Enterprise-backed loans to buy properties and then sharply raising rents, mistreating tenants, and allowing buildings to fall into disrepair,” explains the letter. “The most effective way to ensure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are fulfilling their obligations is by implementing tenant protections for all renters living in properties they back.” In addition to many of the tenant protections mentioned in other letters, the senators recommend comprehensive asset management procedures to ensure housing safety and quality and urge FHFA to create an agency dedicated to ensuring compliance with the tenant protections outlined in the letter.
Read NLIHC’s Renter Protections Working Group-informed letter here.
Read NLIHC’s organizational sign-on letter here.
Read NLIHC’s Tenant Leader Collective letter here.
Read the Partnership for Just Housing’s letter here.
Read the Senate Banking Committee’s letter and press statement here.