‘Hurting everybody’: Portland City Council, tenants sound off on proposed AI rent-fixing software ban

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portlanders are sounding off on a proposed measure that would ban the use of AI to fix rent prices.

The Department of Justice and several states, including Oregon, launched a lawsuit in August that accused software firm RealPage of using its algorithm to help property owners drive up rent costs. The complaint, which was amended to include “the nation’s largest landlords” in January, is what sparked the Portland City Council policy that could prohibit the act at the local level.

The average cost of a two-bedroom apartment in Portland is currently $1800 per month.

“I want to note for my colleagues that the Department of Justice does not bring things forward unless there is serious evidence,” District 3 Councilor Angelita Morillo, who co-introduced the ordinance, said. “This is going to be hurting everybody: renters, small housing providers and small businesses and small landlords, because people aren’t investing their money in the economy.”

Morillo serves the city’s Homelessness and Housing Committee, which has addressed the proposal twice this year. The committee voted to move the discussion to the remainder of city council just last week.

When the policy was re-introduced at Wednesday’s meeting, city leaders were met with testimony from people on both sides of the debate. Although proponents have argued that the ordinance would benefit Portland “mom-and-pop landlords” and renters, with renters accounting for about 47% of the population, opponents fear that the ordinance could exacerbate the ongoing housing crisis.

Joe Gardner, a self-described “lifelong renter” in the Portland area who testified on behalf of RealPage, claimed that rent costs have significantly dropped in the markets served by the software firm.

“This ordinance will not help marginalized populations, as some proponents have claimed,” Gardner added. “In reality, part of the impetus for the software was to reduce the importance of face-to-face bargaining in renting — a process that’s subject to severe implicit bias effects based on race, gender, English language skills and other factors.”

City council will hear additional comments on the ordinance on Thursday. But the discussion of banning rental price-fixing algorithms reaches far beyond Portland.

San Francisco, Philadelphia and Minneapolis are among the cities that have approved or proposed similar policies. Oregon’s Senate Bill 722 could ban rent-fixing software at the state level as well.

If the Portland ordinance is approved, those who violate it could be charged up to $1,000 per violation.