Democratic governor Jared Polis has vetoed a bill that would have turned Colorado in the first state to prohibit owners to use rental fixing algorithms, which many defenders have blamed for increasing housing costs throughout the country.
RealPage is the goal of a Federal Demand filed last year That accuses the real estate software company of facilitating an illegal scheme to help owners coordinate rental prices. Eight other states, including Colorado, have joined the lawsuit of the Department of Justice, although RealPage has vehemently denied any collusion claim and has struggled to dismiss the demand.
Critics say that realPage software combines confidential information of each real estate management company in a way that allows owners to align prices and avoid competition that would otherwise remove rentals. RealPage customers include huge owners who collectively supervise millions of units in the United States.
The Colorado bill, which recently approved the Legislature led by Democrat throughout the party lines, would have avoided the use of such algorithms.
In a veto letter on Thursday, Polis said that he understands the intention of the bill, but that any collusion between the owners would already violate the existing law.
“Reducing market friction through legitimate means that do not imply collusion is good for both tenants and owners,” Polis wrote. “We must not inadvertently remove a tool from the table that can identify vacancies and provide consumers significant data to help administer residential real estate efficiently to ensure that people can access housing.”
In a statement, Realpage applauded the veto of Polis, qualifying it as an example of “brave leadership.”
“This is the correct result for all of us who want a healthy housing ecosystem that benefits both tenants and housing suppliers,” said Jennifer Bowcock, spokesman for the firm based in Texas.
But Polis’s decision outraged local housing defenders and the American Economic Libertads Project, a consumer rights defense group that has helped lead the fight against RealPage and other companies that use rental setting algorithms.
“This veto sends the devastating message that corporate owners can continue using secret pricing algorithms to take additional rental of people who have less,” said Sam Gilman, co -founder and president of the Community Economic Defense project, a non -profit organization based in Colorado.
RealPage Software offers daily recommendations to help owners and their employees at the prices of their available apartments. The owners do not have to follow the suggestions, but the critics argue that because the software has access to a great treasure of confidential data, it helps Realpage customers to collect the highest possible rent.
Although Colorado was the first state to approve a bill aimed at rental algorithms, at least six cities have approved similar ordinances during the past year. They include philadelphia; Minneapolis; San Francisco; Berkeley, California; Jersey City, New Jersey; and providence, Rhode Island.
Realpage has denounced those measures and sued about Berkeley’s ordinancesaying that it violates the rights of freedom of expression of the company and is the result of an “intentional campaign for misinformation and false claims often repeated” about its products.
RealPage argues that the true driver of high rentals is the lack of housing supply. He also says that his price recommendations often encourage owners to leave rentals, since the owners are encouraged to maximize income and maintain a high occupation.
A recently added clause to the signing of the Republicans ” Great, beautiful “The tax bill would prohibit the states and localities of Regulate artificial intelligence for a decade. On Tuesday, five Democratic senators sent a letter to Realpage asking if the company was involved in inserting that clause.
In an email, Bowcock said that Realpage did not participate in the Language of the AI moratorium, but said the company supports “a reflexive regulatory approach, very fundamental and consistent for AI, instead of a state and local legislation mosaic.”
