In January of 2023, the White House published it’s “Blueprint For a Renters Bill of Rights”. They called it a "white paper” intended to "support the development of policies and practices that promote fairness for Americans living in rental housing."
Over 44 million households, or roughly 35 percent of the U.S. population, live in rental housing. And while federal laws such as the Fair Housing Act, the American with Disabilities Act, the Violence Against Women Act, and Fair Credit Reporting Act offer renters certain focused protections, there is no comprehensive set of federal laws protecting renters. Instead, our nation’s rental market is defined by a patchwork of state and local laws and legal processes that renters and rental housing providers must navigate.
That patchwork of renters rights, a shortfall of affordable housing, and a longstanding challenge of rents rising faster than incomes contribute to housing insecurity that millions of American renters experience every year. This is particularly true when there are dramatic rent increases, like the 17.2 percent increase in average rents that occurred in just one year between February 2021 and 2022. Many rental housing providers act responsibly and provide tenant protections beyond what is required by federal, state and local laws. However, research and reporting have documented ways that some renters are exploited by housing providers—who do not abide by the law or the lease agreement—with little recourse that results in the loss of their housing.
Providing principles and best practices for tenant protections is important for a well-functioning housing market but also for the larger society—and is the key goal of this Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights (Blueprint). The federal actions announced at the same time as this Blueprint will promote those principles. This Blueprint sets out five common-sense principles that create a shared baseline for fairness for renters in the housing market, which include the need for renters to have access to:
This Blueprint and the federal actions that promote these principles were developed as part of a six-month process to seek and distill input from people across the country—from tenants to housing providers, legal associations, and advocates. By engaging in dialogues, listening sessions, roundtable discussions, and stakeholder meetings, people from across the United States spoke up about the importance of tenant protections, rental affordability, and resident-centered property management practices. In doing so, they played a central role in shaping this Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights and the new commitments by federal agencies to advance a stronger, more equitable rental market.
In addition to underpinning the policy actions that the Administration is announcing today, these principles will, where possible, guide future federal policies and programs and updates to rulemaking, guidance, and notices governing existing policies and programs. (Source) (Editors Note: Read a complete take over of the rent business in America!)