San Francisco has officially banned software that allowed landlords to collude on rent prices. The ordinance was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors earlier this week and will need to pass a final vote on Sept. 3 before it goes into effect.The ban specifically targets the software companies Yardi and RealPage. “Banning automated price-fixing will allow the market to work and bring down rents in San Francisco,” Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said in a statement announcing the proposed ban. “We want to put more units on the market. Let’s be clear: RealPage has exacerbated our rent crisis and empowered corporate landlords to keep units vacant intentionally. So we’re taking action locally to ensure our working renters can afford to live here.”In his proposal, Peskin says that many of San Francisco’s largest corporate landlords are clients for RealPage, including the city’s largest residential landlord, Brookfield Properties, Greystar, Equity Residential, and UDR, Inc. In total, 70% of all multifamily rental units in the city are rented by one of those companies.”Widespread use of price fixing software presents a new front in the housing affordability crisis,” said Lee Hepner, an antitrust lawyer at the American Economic Liberties Project. “In San Francisco and across the country, RealPage’s software has contributed to double-digit rent increases, increased rates of eviction, and artificial housing scarcity. We applaud Board President Peskin for putting forward this pro-housing legislation, which is consistent with wanting new housing construction to result in lower rents.”
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In a statement in June, RealPage claimed that its software “benefits both housing providers and residents.” The company instead says that housing affordability is the real issue, which it says is caused by increased demand and a small supply of rental units as well as onerous permit and zoning requirements, amongst other things.
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