Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac are federally- backed companies that financially support mortgage loans to property owners. As a result of tenant organizing, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is now deciding whether to condition those mortgage loans on a set of tenant protections. These protections could include regulations on rent hikes and evictions, housing safety requirements, bans on discrimination, and more. If enacted, they could benefit over 12.4 million rental homes across the country.

The FHFA is now seeking comments from tenants and advocates to inform this decision.

The deadline for feedback is July 31st, so get your input in ASAP!

1. Go to the Input Form on the Federal Housing Finance Agency Website

2. Under “Provide Input” Select “Tenant Protections” next to “Select A Topic”

3. Fill out your personal information and the relevant information about your housing organization (if you are part of one).

4. Under “Comments” is where you will provide the bulk of your feedback - You can tell your own personal story of how a lack of tenant protections has hurt you, give examples of the types of protections you would like to see the FHFA enforce, or talk about tenant protections that have worked well in your city.

   Remember, specific examples and feedback, and testimony about personal experience are better. Your submission doesn’t have to be long, one paragraph or a couple sentences is fine! As long as the details are easy to understand!

5. You can upload your testimony instead, or upload photos of conditions in your home or other relevant evidence by clicking “Choose File” and selecting the relevant files from your computer. The maximum file size is 50 MB.

6. When you’re finished, complete the CAPTCHA and click “Submit”. You’re all done!

What if I am not sure what types of policies would be helpful?

Here are some policies that Baltimore Renters United and our Coalition Partners think would be helpful to tenants. If you like these ideas, you can include them in your input as recommendations!

• Forbidding source of income discrimination - this means landlords can’t refuse to rent to you just because you get your money from Social Security payments or work a job that the landlord doesn’t think is a “good” job.

• Prohibiting criminal, credit, and eviction screenings of tenants - This means that landlords can’t run background checks on tenants and choose not to rent to them because of credit issues, past evictions, or a criminal record. This is important because no matter your past or your struggles, you still deserve a roof over your head!

• Requiring “Just Cause” for evictions - This means that a landlord has to have a good reason for evicting you, like damage to the property or major renovations. The landlord can’t just kick you out because he wants to increase the rent.

• Requiring landlords to notify current tenants of rent increases 60 days in advance - This means a landlord has to tell you ahead of time before increasing your rent so you have time to find another place to live if you don’t want to or can’t afford the rent increase.

• Landlords can only increase a current tenant’s rent by 1% each new lease term - This means a landlord can only raise a tenant’s rent 1% each time their lease renews (usually every year) - so if you paid $1000/month last year and you stay at the same apartment, your landlord can only charge you $1010/month the next year.

• Imposing quality/habitability standards - Many cities don’t have strong health and safety code enforcement. In Baltimore City, for example, half of the apartments in the city are unlicensed. The FHFA could require landlords to keep their properties clean, safe, and well kept unless they want to lose their loan and possibly their property. Be specific about what standards you want to see. Monthly pest control? Central Air Conditioning? Appliances? Let the FHFA know what you think would be best!

• Fair lease requirements - Landlord not required to provide a refrigerator?! Basement tenant has to take out the whole building’s recycling?! No overnight guests ever? We see all kinds of bizarre and unfair stipulations in leases, and enough is enough. Tell the FHFA about the ridiculous requirements in your lease and what you’d like to see banned.

• No junk fees - Banning junk fees would mean your landlord can’t charge you random “convenience fees” or upcharges for things that are already your rights or are part of the normal rental application process. Again, be specific about the fees you’ve seen that you want banned!

• Ad Transparency - This would require landlords to clearly list the price, all fees, and accurate details of the rental in all their ads. No surprise “application fees” or apartments “starting at $800/mo” that are actually $1100 a month after fees.

• Limits on Withholding Security Deposits - This would limit reasons why a landlord can keep your security deposits, what those deposits can be used for, and how long your landlord can hold them before returning them to you. No more charging a $1000 cleaning fee after you already had the apartment professionally cleaned!

• Late Fee Limits - BRU Coalition Members want to see at least a 10-day grace period after rent is late before a landlord can charge you a late fee, and see late fees capped at no more than 2% of a month’s rent. This keeps landlords from using predatory late fees to generate more profits.

• Rent must be at least 10 days late before filing evictions - This would stop landlords from being able to file evictions until your rent is over 10 days late. This gives tenants more time to pay missed rent and stops landlords from being able to drag tenants to court every time the rent is a couple days late.

• Illegal lockout bans - In Baltimore, it is illegal for a landlord to change your locks, cut off your utilities, or take your things to get you out - the landlord has to file an eviction and get the Sheriff to evict you if they want to get you out. But that’s not true everywhere. And the requirements for what counts as illegal lockout don’t cover everything. Banning landlords nationwide from illegally locking tenants out and making the definition of illegal lockout very broad will help protect tenants from retaliation by bad landlords.

• 60 day vacate minimum notice requirement- This would require landlords to give you at lease 60 days notice if they’re asking you to leave, terminating your lease, or evicting you. Again, this gives you time to find another place to live so you aren’t scrambling.

These are not the only policies you can recommend! Be creative and draw from your personal experiences! Remember, the FHFA wants your input and this is your opportunity to ask for whatever you think would help tenants the most! Be bold, have high standards, demand better conditions for all of us!

For more information, you can visit the following links:

Federal Housing Finance Agency: Multifamily Tenant Protections Request for Input - A PDF put out by the FHFA explaining all the details of their request for input, how to submit input, and how it will be used.

PolicyLink: Securing Our Housing Futures: Tenant Protections for Federally-Backed Homes - a video about the FHFA request for input, and some policies and strategies that may be helpful

TenantComment.org - A website with a short explanation of the FHFA request for input and some tips for what to submit and how.

If you have questions or need help submitting input,

you can email us at info@bmorerentersunited.org or call us at 443-863-9607.

Remember, the deadline for input is July 31st, so lets hustle for better housing for tenants everywhere!