DENVER (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is suing several large landlords for allegedly coordinating to keep Americans’ rents high by using both an algorithm to help set rents and privately sharing sensitive information with their competitors to boost profits.
The latest figures show that half of American renters spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities in 2022, an all-time high.
While the housing crisis has been assigned several causes, including a slump in homes built over the last decade, the Justice Department’s lawsuit claims major landlords are playing a part.
The lawsuit accuses the landlords of sharing sensitive data on rents and occupancy with competing firms via email, phone calls or in groups.
The Justice Department said one of the six landlords agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Those landlords were added to an existing lawsuit against RealPage, which runs an algorithm that recommends rental prices to landlords.
Prosecutors say the algorithm uses sensitive competitive information, allowing landlords to align their prices and avoid competition that would otherwise push down rents. »
