Rent control expands as tenants struggle with the record-high cost of housing

Tenant activists from around the country rally outside the White House on Nov. 16 in Washington, D.C. They want the Biden administration to regulate rent increases on federally backed housing. (Jennifer Ludden/NPR)

Last spring, a month after an out-of-state investor bought the apartment building where LaMonica Dickerson lives in Louisville, Ky., she and more than 100 others got an eviction notice. If she wanted to stay, she was told her rent would be $500 higher.

"They're forcing homelessness," she says. "Married couples are having to split because they don't have anywhere to go together."