Jersey City Latest to Ban Rent-Setting Algorithm

Jersey City joins a growing list of cities that are banning algorithmic rent-setting software provided by RealPage that tenant advocates say artificially raises rents.

As Jared Brey explains in Governing, “Services like RealPage use data shared by property owners, including information about apartment sizes and nearby rents and vacancy rates, to recommend a lease rate. Sometimes, those recommendations result in drastic swings in rent, often much higher than what a landlord or property manager might charge in a traditional setting.” According to  Jersey City Councilmember James Solomon, “the algorithm ‘magnifies’ the harm done by landlords sharing non-public data about their properties.”

Efforts to ban the software at the state level have failed in Washington and Colorado. Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, vetoed a law passed by the state legislature, citing existing laws against price fixing and calling for a bill that offers more clarity on “non-collusive uses of nonpublic competitor data.” However, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Berkeley have all recently passed bans on the software, and other cities are considering similar legislation.