WASHINGTON, D.C. — When Aneta Molenda’s apartment building in New York City was bought by a private equity firm, the new owner suggested raising her rent by 50% — to almost $4,000 a month.

She immediately started negotiating.

“Eventually, they were willing to come down on the rent, but when they sent me the lease renewal, there was a section that gave the landlord the right to terminate my lease at any point and double my rent with only 30 days notice. It was clear they wanted me out,” Molenda told a Senate panel on Thursday.

Rachel Jones, of Minneapolis, faced a similar ordeal.

“When my rent went up by hundreds of dollars last year, I asked a representative from Havenbrook, ‘Why is it going up so much? I have faithfully paid my rent. I have done everything you’ve asked me to do and more. And you're still going to every year charge me hundreds of more dollars.’ She said, ‘We have to please the investors,’” Jones said during a Senate listening session.

Both women spoke this week before the Senate Banking and Housing Committee.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), the chairman of the panel, called on them to help examine the role of private equity firms and other investors in driving up housing prices.

“One of the reasons housing prices have gotten so out of control is that corporate America sensed an opportunity,” Brown said during Thursday’s hearing.

According to the National Association of Realtors, the median sales price for a home rose 17% last year.

The cost of rent has also gone up, approximately 14%, according to real estate company Redfin.

While Democrats, like Brown, place the blame on investment firms being greedy, Republicans argue those firms represent a small share of the market and that President Joe Biden’s approach to the economy is at fault.

“Instead of blaming those who actually build housing stock, we should probably take a look at the role that Democratic policies have contributed to the high cost of housing,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania) said.

Joel Griffith, an expert witness from The Heritage Foundation who Republicans invited to testify Thursday, echoed Toomey.

“Institutional owners of rental properties are being scapegoated for the rise in home prices and rental costs,” he said.

Sally Martin, who oversees building and housing for the City of Cleveland, testified that she’s seeing more renters get pushed out of month-to-month leases as new investors enter the market.

“The recent rebound in housing prices has enticed many local landlords to sell their occupied homes to out of state investors,” Martin said Thursday.

The increased cost of housing is part of a broader challenge Biden faces as inflation hits another 40-year high.