Washington, D.C — Amid growing awareness that third-party rent-setting algorithms are a serious driver of the housing crisis–prompting state antitrust suits from Washington, D.C. and Arizona, a federal suit from the Department of Justice and 8 states, multiple federal and state legislative proposals, and a first-in-the-nation ban on rental price-fixing in San Francisco, among other actions–the American Economic Liberties Project today announced a new campaign, “End Rental Price-FIxing,” to promote state and municipal legislation to ban the practice.

The launch of the new campaign comes as Economic Liberties testifies today in the New Jersey Assembly Housing Committee in support of A4872, another state bill aimed at reining in landlord price collusion facilitated by algorithmic rent-setting software.

“More than a dozen states and cities have taken or supported action to crack down on algorithmic price-setting platforms like RealPage, which sit at the heart of a housing cartel pushing rent prices higher across the country. This is no longer a set of one-off actions, it’s a movement,” said Pat Garofalo, Director of State and Policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Informed by shared non-public data, rent-setting software has made it easy for landlords across America to eliminate competition and gouge renters. Renters are fed up, and now we’re seeing comprehensive action across federal, state, and municipal governments to rein in their anticompetitive behavior. Our new campaign provides a home for advocates, policymakers, and renters to track this movement, and take action to end rental price-fixing for good.”

Corporations such as RealPage—whose software helps landlords share data in order to set rents above competitive levels and raise marginal profits, even at lower occupancy rates — have been connected to affordability crises in cities from Seattle to Atlanta. According to a complaint by the Arizona Attorney General, RealPage alone is allegedly responsible for 12 and 13 percent rent increases in Phoenix and Tucson, respectively.

In April, Economic Liberties and Local Progress released a brief outlining the tools that states and municipalities can use to combat software-driven rental price-fixing. In July, San Francisco became the first municipality to ban the practice. Since then, Philadelphia, San Jose, and the state of New Jersey have proposed similar legislation. At the federal level, Congress has proposed the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act to ban landlords from using third-party rent-setting software that coordinates price and supply information.

These legislative efforts come alongside numerous law enforcement actions. In August, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division sued RealPage for violating Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. This blockbuster suit followed a multi-district class action litigation in the Middle District of Tennessee, and federal and state antitrust lawsuits complaints filed by the DC Attorney General Schwalb and Arizona Attorney General Mayes.

As the momentum continues to build, End Rental Price-Fixing will track both legislation and enforcement actions across the federal, state, and municipal levels. The campaign will also elevate the voices of concerned citizens, soliciting their rental price-fixing stories and connecting them to their state representatives to demand action.

Read Pat Garofalo’s full testimony in New Jersey today here.

Learn more about the End Rental Price-Fixing campaign here.

Read Economic Liberties’ memo with Local Progress here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.