The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has received more than 400 comments so far in response to its Request for Input (RFI) regarding establishing tenant protections at multifamily properties with FHFA-backed mortgages (see Memo, 6/5). National organizations and tenant leaders are calling for a robust response to the RFI, as any renter protections created by FHFA could cover a significant share of renters. Advocates have until July 31 to weigh in with FHFA to demand and help shape strong renter protections. NLIHC has several opportunities for tenant leaders and other advocates to engage, including a sample comment letter, an organizational sign-on letter, and a weekly Renter Protections working group.
Since the RFI was announced, housing advocates have taken action to translate tenant frustrations into feedback regarding potential federal renter protections. NLIHC’s renter protections working group has met three times and will meet once more on Wednesday, June 28 at 4 pm ET to inform and strengthen NLIHC’s comment letter. We anticipate having two more meetings on July 19 and 26 to review a draft comment letter comprised of a consolidation of suggestions offered during June’s Working Group meetings. Organizations involved with NLIHC’s HoUSed campaign may be particularly interested in signing NLIHC’s organizational sign-on letter which calls for a major priority in the HoUSed campaign’s policy agenda – strengthening federal renter protections. NLIHC urges all organizations – local, state, and national – to join efforts to support federal renter protections by taking action below.
Take Action
NLIHC urges tenant leaders and other advocates to respond to relevant questions in the RFI; you do not need to respond to every RFI question, just those that you have some experience with or have ideas about. In addition to responding to the RFI questions, you can offer other suggestions for providing strong tenant protections. Remember, comments will be made public on FHFA’s website, so please do not include personal identifying information.
Take action by:
- Submitting your own comments by July 31. It is crucial that FHFA hear from you and as many tenant leaders and other advocates as possible in support of renter protections. Use NLIHC’s sample comment letter and resources from www.tenantcomment.org to craft your comments and submit them using a direct portal here.
- Signing your organization on to NLIHC’s national support letter calling on FHFA to create strong federal renter protections.
- Joining our next weekly working group on Renter Protections on Wednesday June 28 at 4:00 pm ET to help inform and strengthen NLIHC’s comment letter. Register for the meeting here.
Read more about the Federal Housing Finance Agency and NLIHC’s opportunities for engagement at: https://tinyurl.com/mr473235
Read submitted comments on FHFA’s website (choose “Tenant Protections” in the drop-down menu): https://www.fhfa.gov/AboutUs/Contact/Pages/input-submissions.aspx