Prince George’s County, MD — In a 9-1 vote, the Prince George’s County Council passes CB-7, a rent stabilization bill that provides relief to county residents experiencing significant rent hikes. The council hearing room was filled with Prince George’s community residents who came to testify and show the county support for rent stabilization legislation. The County Council heard hours of testimony from local elected officials, residential and commercial landlords, and local tenants at their final meeting Tuesday morning.

CASA, along with other organizations in the PG County Housing Justice Coalition and allies began advocating for rent stabilization with tenants who are experiencing unfair rent hikes since last year, after the city of Laurel tenants began seeing extreme rent increases and other cities followed shortly after. With no legislation in place to protect tenants, some landlords began to take advantage and have been raising the prices of rent to unrealistic levels, with no signs of slowing down.

While this bill is not a permanent rent stabilization solution, this is a step in the right direction. CB-7 will cap rent increases at 3% for renters in Prince George’s County, while the County works on a permanent solution for the growing housing crisis happening throughout the county. This policy will exclude any renters who live in properties that were built in the last five years.

Among the powerful testimonies in favor of CB-7 was one from 10-year-old, CASA member, Britney, “In our apartment, all the buildings are infested with bedbugs, mice and cockroaches…It is not fair that they charge us such expensive rent and we live in very poor conditions.”

Prince Georgians are struggling to make ends meet as the price of everything continues to increase while the minimum wage average remains at $13/hour.

“These times are difficult for everyone. My rent was $1,726 and the increase was $377, now my rent is $2,080 including the increase in utilities,” testified Janet Kenne.

“In a county where there is a serious lack of affordable housing, forcing people to live in undignified conditions due to having no other option, rent stabilization has never been more important,” said Jorge Benitez-Perez, CASA’s lead organizer for Prince George’s County.

This win would not be possible without the leadership from bill co-sponsors Councilmembers Blegay, Dernoga, Ivey, Burroughs and Olson and especially Councilmember Oriadha, who championed this bill.

“I am excited to pass this bill today,” reflected Council Member Krystal Oriadha. “This bill is an opportunity for us to say loud and clear that renters matter. For too long the message has been that they don’t. Residents are suffering because of rent increases, and rent stabilization creates stability so renters know that they are not going to wake up and their rent is doubled. We want Prince Georgians to have access to affordable, habitable, and fair housing and this bill gets us closer to that goal.”

“This legislation will halt the rent-gouging in Prince George’s County while a more permanent solution is introduced. The fight for housing justice is far from over, and CASA firmly believes housing is a human right, not a lucrative business,” closed Gustavo Torres, CASA executive director.