Santa Ana Moves to Ban Algorithmic Rent Setting
The Santa Ana City Council has given tentative approval to a new ordinance that would ban landlords from using algorithmic software to set and increase rents. The measure is intended to stabilize local housing costs by preventing automated price coordination among property owners.
- The ordinance received a unanimous 6-0 vote for initial approval from the City Council, with Mayor Valerie Amezcua absent. A second procedural vote is required before the law officially takes effect. - This local measure follows a 2024 Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against the Texas-based software company RealPage. The federal suit alleged the company's platform facilitated an unlawful scheme to reduce competition among landlords, harming millions of renters. - Under the proposed Santa Ana law, tenants would be empowered to seek injunctive relief, damages, and civil penalties. Each monthly rental payment considered artificially inflated would be treated as a separate infraction, with penalties of up to $1,000 per violation. - The move is part of a broader trend, with cities like Berkeley, San Diego, and Portland pursuing similar bans on rent-setting algorithms. Santa Ana's city staff were directed to monitor the developments in Berkeley, which adopted its ban after settling a lawsuit with RealPage. - This ban is an extension of Santa Ana's existing renter protection measures, which already include a Rent Stabilization and Just Cause Eviction Ordinance. This existing ordinance caps annual rent increases at the lower of 3% or 80% of the Consumer Price Index for qualifying units. - The initiative for the ban was spearheaded by Councilmember Jessie Lopez in October, who cited the need to protect all renters in the city, regardless of their unit's market rate status. The goal is to prevent the consolidation of the local housing market through data-driven price coordination.
