What is Rental Price Fixing?
Across the country, landlords are turning to a new tool to raise rents and further exacerbate the housing crisis: software algorithms. Landlords provide information on their rental units and vacancy rates to third party service providers like RealPage. RealPage’s algorithms analyze that private, sensitive data along with vast amounts of public data, then give recommendations to landlords regarding rent prices, concessions, and vacancy rates that promise to boost their profits while artificially driving up housing costs for tenants.
In some metro areas, the use of rent-fixing software algorithms has played a significant role in double-digit rent increases. It’s collusion by another name.
RENTAL PRICE FIXING IS A RESULT OF CORPORATE GREED
As the housing crisis intensifies, people are struggling to stay in their homes and are getting pushed out of their neighborhoods. Meanwhile, RealPage and corporate landlords are conspiring together to hike up costs on seniors, students, families, teachers, firefighters, immigrants, and anybody who rents.
As part of their efforts to squeeze more and more money from everyday people, corporations are increasingly using collusive algorithms to jack up prices across every aspect of our lives. RealPage’s clients comprise nearly 90% of the U.S. market for multifamily rental housing units (with 50 units or more). With such a large share of the market, decisions made by RealPage clients have a magnified impact on rental prices across the country, dramatically increasing rent prices and eviction rates. Algorithmic price fixing is also used in other ways, from setting hotel prices to setting the wages of working people – all for corporations to make more money at our expense. Fighting rental price fixing is one small step we can all take to try to even the playing field for workers and tenants in a system that’s rigged against them.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR COMMUNITIES
The U.S. Department of Justice and ten states are suing RealPage and six corporate landlords for colluding and hiking up costs on hundreds of thousands of renters across the country. Three states have banned algorithmic rental price fixing: California, New York, and New Jersey. Meanwhile, state legislators in Colorado, Washington, Texas, New Mexico, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Idaho, have introduced their own bans, and Senator Amy Klobuchar has introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate.
At the same time, localities are taking action against rental price fixing to provide their communities with relief from soaring housing costs.
San Francisco, Berkeley, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Diego, Jersey City, Providence, Santa Monica, Hoboken, Portland, Spokane, Santa Ana, Evanston, Seattle, and King County have all passed legislation banning landlord collusion through price-fixing algorithmic systems—one important first step—and Chicago and San Jose are taking steps to regulate algorithmic rental price fixing in their communities. Nashville and Missoula have each passed resolutions voicing opposition to rental price fixing, with Nashville also calling for an investigation into the practice.
Join the growing number of localities taking action against corporate greed!
If you’re interested in getting involved or taking action in your own locality, reach out to helpdesk@localprogress.org.
RESOURCES
Rental Price Fixing Policy Memo
Read our policy memo, co-authored with American Economic Liberties Project, to learn more about what algorithmic rental price fixing is, how it affects renters, and ways to take action.
Rental Price Fixing Talking Points
Check out our talking points for guidance on how to communicate with your community members and other key allies about this issue and why we need to address it.
Rental Price Fixing One Pager
Use our one pager as a shorter option to provide to colleagues and other allies in conversations to quickly explain what algorithmic rental price fixing is and why it's important to take action.
Additional Housing Resources
Report
Housing For the People: How Local Governments are Building Social Housing Solutions for Public Good
Media about Housing
- Housing
- ▹
Multiple Cities Across the Country Are Resisting Rent Algorithms
Hoboken and Jersey city are two of the latest localities to join the nationwide movement to tackle corporate greed in the rental market and ban algorithmic rental price fixing.
- Housing
- ▹
Rent-Setting Algorithms Find Legal Lifeline
RealPage stands to benefit as GOP tax bill seeks to bar state and local oversight of AI and automated decision systems for 10 years.
- Housing
- ▹
Cities lead bans on algorithmic rent hikes as states lag behind
Minneapolis on Thursday has become the fourth U.S. city to ban algorithmic rental price-fixing software, joining San Francisco, Philadelphia and Berkeley, California, in a growing wave of legislation aimed to protect renters from rental price-gouging.
- Housing
- ▹
Portland City Council weighs ban on using algorithms to set rents
Portland, Oregon could soon be the next city to ban rental price fixing!
- Housing
- ▹
Social Housing Emerging in Cities Needs Local Govt Support
Local Progress founding board chair Nick Licata makes the case for local governments to support social housing.
- Housing
- ▹
Ahead of Trump term, U.S. cities grapple with homelessness
While the Trump administration plans to accelerate encampment sweeps, cities are ready to support people experiencing homelessness with dignity. LP leaders make the case for housing over jail time or fines.