(PORTLAND) – Algorithmic rent price fixing, the national issue, gets banned in Portland.
Portland residents waited hours to speak at a 10-hour-long meeting on Nov. 12 on the agenda item, which, according to the ordinance, acknowledges that specific rental-housing-market algorithmic devices can be a significant threat to fair competition, housing affordability, and tenant protections.
“Algorithmic devices enable landlords to indirectly coordinate rental prices and occupancy levels by analyzing and sharing non-public competitor data, leading to artificially inflated rents and reduced housing access,” the ordinance reads.
Residents agree.
Wade Long, one of the only residents for the algorithmic rental price fixing at the Nov. 12 meeting
Chris Olsen, a member of the Portland Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America Housing Working Group, told officials the group heard from thousands of Portland renters through door-to-door canvassing and community events.
“And the message that we’ve heard every single time is clear: that the rent is just too high,” Olson said, adding Portland’s unaffordability is directly affecting the working class residents who are teachers, service workers, artists, and caregivers.
“The use of profit maximizing algorithms only deepens the crisis,” Olsen said.
According to the ordinance, the practice of algorithm “disproportionately harm low-income residents, increase eviction rates, and destabilize Portland's housing market.”
That destabilization has cost Nicholas Goolsby’s family vision.
“My wife and I dream of one day being able to afford a home in this wonderful city we share,” Goolsby said. “But with these applications, that seems to be increasingly an impossibility.”
The couple “dread leases renewals” annually, with management negotiations getting tougher each year.
“We have been continually rejected outright by management, citing and quoting revenue management applications like those described in this legislation,” Goolsby said of the ordinance that details its intention to safeguard tenants, promote fair competition, and ensure market stability.
“This ordinance prohibits the use and sale of algorithmic devices for setting rents or managing occupancy levels in the City of Portland,” the ordinance reads.
Wade Long disagrees.
Long countered claims of algorithm conspiracy. As the Building Owners and Managers Association of Oregon Local Advocacy Director, he said logarithmic software is used to determine what is happening in the market, and is not used to illegally set artificially high rental rates.
Unlike the residents who spoke before and after, Long said the ordinance is “yet another barrier to increased housing supply within Portland.
“This will not result in lower rents,” Long said. “It will require landlords to increase staff to determine market conditions and pass extra costs on to their tenants.”
Even the Department of Justice (DOJ) has an issue with formulary and rent prices, filing a civil antitrust lawsuit against a company in eight states.
"RealPage’s alleged conduct deprives renters of the benefits of competition on apartment leasing terms and harms millions of Americans," the DOJ reports.
Destinay Magana commended officials for the ordinance with no apologies.
Destiny Magana calls herself a stubborn, proud homeowner in Portland
“I am a proud and stubborn homeowner in District One,” Magana said. “I am a proud Portlander.”
Caring for her neighbor as herself, Magana told officials that sustainable housing is the answer.
“We want people to be housed, and we don’t want them to end up in overnight beds,” Magana said. “We want them to be able to go home, shower, and get ready for the workforce while their children sleep in their own private beds.”
If you would like to comment on rent price fixing or add anything to the report, email me at rory.h@lead4earth.org.
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