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By Maya Mackey
Reports have come out recently that point to some landlords using Realpage, a software that tracks proprietary lease information to set rent prices. San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera is taking a stand, exposing how landlords use these tools to drive up rents while avoiding direct accountability. San Diego rental prices are up 47% since 2020. San Francisco and San Jose have already banned such practices.
The push to ban this software from driving up prices in Southern California is an ongoing battle. Democratic Senator Melissa Hurtado, whose district includes Bakersfield, introduced a failed bill to ban Realpage usage, but says she won’t give up.
Federal Prosecutors believe Realpage controls about 80% of the commercial revenue management market. What makes matters worse is how Realpage technology earned its funds. Private equity giant Thoma Bravo acquired the funds from California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System as well as a portion of pensions from fire and police departments.
RealPage argues that their software is not mandatory to help landlords set market prices for rent, and therefore all criticism and lawsuits against them should be dropped. That argument is good and well, except for the fact that using RealPage data has, for many landlords, become a no-brainer. The software is contributing to out-of-control rent prices–intentionally or not.
If a landlord can simply plug in a rental applicant’s information into an automated system that will crunch an arbitrary number, and base the rental price on that, why would the same landlord go the extra mile of checking if that price makes sense?
Meanwhile, the fight for fair and affordable housing continues here in LA County. This past summer, the LA County Board of Supervisors approved a $65 million budget for affordable housing at 400 Centinela Avenue in Inglewood. The proposal, if approved, will span a 79,000-square-foot residential building with 120 units (studios to three bedrooms) and an 18,000-square-foot community service facility that will house the new Social Justice Learning Institute’s headquarters. Hoping to create a community vibe, the living quarters will be named Sankofa Place.
There is no word yet of when these homes will be available to move in and with Califronian’s odd decision to vote against stricter rent-control last month, the struggle to find a semi-decent apartment that won’t cost you half of your paycheck will continue to be real as hell.
