Washington legislators want to put the brakes on statewide housing rent that has become one of the highest in the country. A bill introduced in the Washington State Senate, SB 5469, would prohibit algorithmic rent fixing and noncompete agreements in the rental housing market, a system used by software company, RealPage, which has been accused of fueling the increases.
Benton County average rent increased 2.7% since 2023 and 32.9% since 2019. During the same periods, Franklin County average rent rose 1.6% and 42%, faster than most in the state and exceeding the 19% national average for that period, according to data published in the Washington Post.
The Observer reached out to the Washington state senators from the Tri-Cities area, Perry Dozier, Matt Boehnke and Nikki Torres, to ask their position on the bill that none of them have sponsored. Only Dozier responded.
“When I am sure SB 5469 is coming to the floor of the Senate, I’ll dive into it deeper. But knowing the supporters of the Senate rent control bill are also behind SB 5469 makes me skeptical already. If there’s reason to think the policy is bad for our state’s private housing providers, I won’t support it. Legislation that reduces the supply of rentals isn’t going to bring rent prices down,” Dozier wrote in an email.
Last August, then Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson joined eight other attorneys general in a US Department of Justice lawsuit alleging that a computer software company, RealPage and six large landlords had used an algorithmic pricing scheme to align their rents in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
In a press release from the state AG office, RealPage was accused of sharing data with landlords that helped them raise rents to maximize profits in an estimated 800,000 leases in Washington since 2017. About 38 apartment complexes in the Tri-Cities are managed by companies named in the lawsuits according to a report in the Washington Post.
The Senate Committee on Housing has scheduled an executive session for SB 5469 at 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 14.
“private housing providers” is a hell of a euphemism for “landlords”
Hi Anonymous,
I appreciate your comment. Did Senator Perry Dozier attempt to delineate between individuals who rent housing and corporations who rent housing??? That’s a good question. Thank you for reading the Observer.
Randy
Nice typo on the headline…homonyms much? 😂
Hi James, I appreciate your comment and your humor. Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy
I hope at least a few of those folks who attended Sen. Boehnke’s Legislative Latte in Richland during December and shared with him their housing concerns as renters are following this leglislation and contacting their lawmakers.
Hi Degeman, I hope they did too. Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy