RENTERS’ RIGHTS

Housing is a human right. Everyone deserves housing that is affordable, safe, sanitary, and stable.

Yet legal protections for renters are weak. Laws provide little control over how much landlords and developers can increase rents in the County. Rents continue to rise while real income for working people has been in decline since 2008. This growing affordability gap, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is fueling an epidemic of evictions and driving thousands of residents out of Montgomery County.

Our County is facing an affordable housing crisis, and when more than a third of  residents are renters, all of us are impacted — especially the 50% of renters who spend a third or more of their income on rent. Housing insecurity also disproportionately impacts immigrants and trans and disabled people, as well as renters who live at or below the poverty line, earn a fixed or limited income, or did not qualify for pandemic-era emergency rental assistance funds because they could not prove pandemic-related loss of income.

JUFJ is working with partners and government officials to advocate for housing stability (providing due process legal protections for individuals and families facing the prospect of eviction), protections for renters, and the expansion of opportunities for the development of safe and affordable housing in our County. Montgomery County must reverse the trend that has led to the loss of 25,000 affordable rental units over the past 10 years. And we can advocate for more affordable, more available, and more secure housing for all.

Our housing partners include: CASA, Everyday Canvassing, Montgomery County Democratic Socialists of America, Housing Initiative Partnership, Shepherd’s Table,  and the members of the Montgomery County Racial Equity Network, in addition to our union partners at MCEA, MCGEO & SEIU Local 500, whose members have made housing a top issue.

Want to get more involved in this campaign? Contact an organizer.

While solving the affordable housing crisis in Montgomery County will require a multipronged approach, an annual limit on rent increases, otherwise known as rent stabilization, can help keep thousands of renters housed right now.

Between April 2020 and summer 2023, JUFJ and our partners fought for permanent rent stabilization in Montgomery County. The historic campaign for permanent rent stabilization won in Summer 2023. The rent will be capped at 6% at buildings across the county thanks to the passage of Bill 15-23!

But the fight for stable rents is not over yet. The cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg are exempt from this law. And until the regulations for rent stabilization are passed, tenants will continue to face rent increases beyond the 6% cap.

JUFJ and our partners will continue to organize for the implementation of this historic win.

Learn more, get involved, and take action using the buttons below!

• When rents continued t0 skyrocket across the County, JUFJ and our partners organized to pass historic rent stabilization legislation that caps the rent in Montgomery County at 6%. 
• When the Montgomery County Council proposed legislation that would give hundreds of millions in tax breaks to developers building on top of WMATA property, JUFJ and our partners successfully advocated for the legislation to mandate more affordable units and a 12-year sunset to the bill.
• When COVID-19 first threatened renters in Montgomery County, JUFJ and our partners advocated to #CanceltheRent and to pass the COVID 19 Renter Relief Act, which limits rent increases to 2.6%

Montgomery County Resources:

• The Montgomery County Housing for All Program
• Montgomery County COVID-19 Resources for Renters
• Montgomery County Resources for Tenants to Avoid Eviction

Other Resources:

• The Gilchrist Center
• Renters’ Alliance