Summary
The U.S. Justice Department, joined by 10 states, has sued six major landlords and RealPage, a company behind a rent-setting algorithm, accusing them of colluding to keep rents high by sharing sensitive pricing data and avoiding competition.
The landlords, operating over 1.3 million units, allegedly used RealPage’s algorithm and coordination to align rents, exacerbating the housing crisis.
One landlord has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Critics argue this scheme worsens affordability issues for renters, who already face record rent burdens amid a strained housing market.
They should have a criminal charge for crimes against the economy. They did this to us. They made it this way. There needs to be tangible justice.
This was the point of the Reagan Revolution, the trickle down economics con, and the federalist society takeover that began under Reagan.
The owners spent decades removing accountability from the owners and any hope for accountability’s return under the current completely captured, warped, and owned constitutional framework.
There’s no voting our way out of this greed prison, as they own both major parties since Reagan. Want a just society? Move to a nation our government hasn’t yet coerced into becoming as bad as us, or help foment L style revolution for a new constitution and nation, this one is too captured for any rational hope.
Unless you think continuing to play this game will lead to a just society. Neoliberals are just the “good cop” in our illusion of choice. We have no vote on the shape or priorities of the economy we live in servitude of, only the social wedges the owners sow division amplifying with for profit media and captured political bully pulpits. “You hate them for being different! They hate you for being different! Fight! Don’t look up!”
Just gotta pay goyim
In eleven days this will be legal.
I feel like this is too late to have any impact. Should have done this a year ago. May have even helped with the Biden reelection campaign.
Scum
Oh hey just in time to go absofucukinglutly nowhere!
Can’t wait for the Trump administration to pull some “Communist Democrats unfairly tried to punish Good Productive Landlords™ because the Democrats want you to pay more in rent! That’s why we’re dropping the case and giving them billions in subsidies!”
This has been going for a while and hopefully the involvement of the states means it won’t go away.
There’s six of them. I wonder how many of us there are.
has sued six major landlords and RealPage
I don’t see the six landlords listed anywhere. Anyone got the list?
The amended complaint alleges the landlords — Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC (Greystar); Blackstone’s LivCor LLC (LivCor); Camden Property Trust (Camden); Cushman & Wakefield Inc and Pinnacle Property Management Services LLC (Cushman); Willow Bridge Property Company LLC (Willow Bridge) and Cortland Management LLC (Cortland) — participated in an unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing, harming millions of American renters.
Thanks!
And I’m sure those landlords will be all “BUT WE HAVE EXPENSES TOO! WE’RE PEOPLE TOO!” excuse.
Oh no! Not accusations! Anyway.
It would be nice if they get a fine of 1.3 million housing units.
That’s a lot of social housing. It would put an absolutely amazing dent in homelessness and would help a lot of low income families.
Make that 2.6 million as a base figure to go up from.
See, this is part of why I agree with things like the corporate death penalty. A company will not care how much it is fined, unless that fine forces it to close. Our justice structure when it comes to actually dealing with corporate entities is WOEFULLY behind the times, and has been artificially kept so for decades. Besides, fining a company that was scheming to keep rents artificially high brings no benefits, nor relief to the actual tenants who were forced out because of high rents.
Fining companies seems to just be a way of getting more money from them.
The fine should be the ill-gained profits PLUS a penalty. If you rob the bank, you don’t get to keep the money when you get caught. Why should it be any different when they rob us?
Hang the landlords
Yeah, the justice department can say whatever it wants.
Until there are DEVASTATING consequences for capitalist actions, they’ll continue to do them.
I believe there is approximately a 0% chance that this goes anywhere under the incoming administration, who holds nothing but contempt for the common man. Too bad people are too concerned with the fucking “cUlTuRe WaR” to care 🥲
How do you keep them up there after the guillotine did its job?
They can hang by their toes
Years ago, when I lived in Boston, a realtor company mistakenly sent me a letter meant for my landlord. It said something like, “rentals are lucrative and prices keep rising! You should maximize your yearly lease price increases to make more money.”
The brokers get a full months rent fee in Boston just for showing the apartment, so this was really infuriating.
All six have Trump’s endorsement. Especially if they also refuse to rent to black people.
Trump’s son in law and his father are slum lords, so no doubt this will only get worse.
six
1.3 million units
Holy fucking shit people
If found guilty they should be dispose of.
No reason to spare them after affecting millions of people.
