Press Releases
Chairs of Leading Congressional Caucuses Call for Federal Agency Action to Protect Renters and Lower Costs
Washington,
December 11, 2023
As Americans face a nationwide housing crisis, the Chairs of leading congressional caucuses are calling for federal action to protect people’s rights and stop rent price-gouging. Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Rep. Steven Horsford (NV-04), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Rep. Nanette Barragán (CA-44), and Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) called for action from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the independent agency tasked with ensuring fairness in housing lending and protecting renters. “Renters across the nation are in crisis: high rents and rent hikes put America’s lowest-income and most marginalized renters at risk of losing their homes,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to FHFA Director Sandra L. Thompson. “Rent inflation continues to be a driver of overall inflation…[and] nearly half of all renters spent more than a third of their income on rent in the previous year, an all-time high for our nation.” The Caucus Chairs emphasize that the urgency is not limited to rent costs: “Eviction filings are climbing to even higher rates than before the pandemic. In the worst cases, individuals and families are being forced into homelessness, living in tents, cars, or shelters and severely devastating families with children, and older adults. The rent inflation crisis is an issue of racial and economic justice. Black, Hispanic, and Asian American renters are more likely to be severely cost burdened than white renters.” The members called for six key reforms:
The full text of the letter can be found here. |
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