NLIHC’s State and Local Innovation (SLI) project has released four toolkits highlighting key tenant protections that can be passed to strengthen renters’ rights at the state and local levels. Part of NLIHC’s State and Local Tenant Protection Series: A Primer on Renters’ Rights, the toolkits cover four key protections: just cause eviction standards, rent stabilization policies, laws that strengthen habitability standards and code enforcement procedures, and laws that limit excessive rental fees. Each toolkit provides an overview of one major tenant protection, details the common components of the protection, lists information about state and local jurisdictions that have adopted the protection, suggests provisions that should be taken into consideration when enacting the protection, and highlights complementary policies that can be passed alongside the protection to ensure the greatest impact possible. Download the toolkits:
- Just Cause Eviction Laws Toolkit
- Rent Stabilization Toolkit
- Code Enforcement and Habitability Standards Toolkit
- Rental Junk Fees Toolkit
With rental costs remaining out of reach for millions of renter households, policy interventions are necessary to ensure that the lowest-income tenants have access to safe, stable, affordable housing. Tenant protections are important tools for protecting tenants against rising rental costs, discriminatory and arbitrary eviction practices, and other threats to housing stability and can help level the playing field between landlords and tenants, rectifying the longstanding power imbalance that impacts the lowest-income and most marginalized renters. Since January 2021, states and localities across the country have implemented more than 300 new tenant protections.
The new toolkits focus on four powerful tenant protection policies: rent stabilization laws, “just cause” eviction standards, laws that limit excessive rental fees, and laws that strengthen code enforcement procedures and housing stability standards. Rent stabilization policies limit the amount and/or frequency of rent increases to prevent excessive rent hikes that can price tenants out of their housing. “Just cause” eviction standards – sometimes known as “good” or “for-cause” evictions standards – define the reasons for which landlords can evict tenants or refuse to renew a lease when the tenant is not at fault or found to be in violation of any law. Rental fee limits regulate the types of fees or fee amounts that landlords or property owners can charge renters over the course of a lease term and seek to increase transparency in the rental market. Code enforcement procedures and habitability standards aim to ensure the safety and quality of rental housing units. The toolkits are meant to provide foundational information about the core components of these important policy interventions and help spark dialogue about the need for state and local tenant protections.
The toolkits were developed through analysis of the protections included in NLIHC’s State and Local Tenant Protections Database and discussions with state and local tenant advocates and housing-justice focused policy and advocacy organizations. The invaluable advice, research, and insights provided by NLIHC’s partners – including members of NLIHC’s Collective, a cohort of tenant leaders working to uplift the voices of the most marginalized and lowest-income renters nationally – was vitally important in shaping the material presented in the toolkits.
The toolkits are part of the SLI project’s State and Local Tenant Protection Series: A Primer on Renters’ Rights. Alongside the toolkits, the series includes accompanying case studies focused on each of the four protections. The first case study, which explored just cause eviction laws, was released in July. The three remaining case studies will be released in October and November. The series also includes webinars exploring each of the protections and aiming to build momentum for the passage of tenant protections at the state and local levels.
NLIHC’s SLI project was launched in April 2024 to support state and local partners in advancing, implementing, and enforcing tenant protections, creating and sustaining emergency rental assistance programs, preventing the criminalization of homelessness, and supporting the advancement of housing innovations that seek to keep eviction rates down and prevent homelessness. The initiative aims to empower a movement that will strengthen tenants’ rights, prevent evictions, and promote housing stability for renter households with the lowest incomes. For more information, please visit the SLI webpage.
Download the toolkits: