Will our five all-Republican St. Johns County Commissioners kindly respond to my suggestion in public comment that they investigate rental housing price-fixing? Unaffordable rental housing appears to be the direct result of antitrust violations. Do Republican Commissioners ISAAC HENRY DEAN, SARAH ARNOLD, ROY ALYRE ALAIMO, JR., and CHRISTIAN (sic) WHITEHURST and KRISTA KEATING-JOSEPH, have the fortitude to protect the public interest? Will Florida's vituperative Republican Attorney General ASHLEY MOODY and Boy Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS pursue antitrust litigation under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Anitrust Improvements Act of 1976? You tell me. Or would they rather block progress, as is their routine habit and practice. What do y'all reckon? From Politico:
Justice Department preparing rental market collusion lawsuit
The Biden administration has focused on reining in housing costs as a key part of its economic agenda.
The Justice Department is gearing up to challenge what it says is collusive conduct in the rental housing market with a lawsuit against a software company that it believes allows large landlords to fix prices.
The DOJ is planning to sue RealPage Inc., a software company used by landlords across the country, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
DOJ staff recently recommended a civil lawsuit against RealPage that would accuse the company of selling software that enables landlords to illegally share confidential pricing information in order to collude on setting rents. The recommendation escalates the investigation to the antitrust division’s leadership, including Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter. Also on the table for a complaint is the landlords’ ability to use the software to match vacancy rates, essentially restricting supply, at competing buildings in the same rental market, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a confidential investigation.
Justice Department preparing rental market collusion lawsuit
The Biden administration has focused on reining in housing costs as a key part of its economic agenda.
The Justice Department is gearing up to challenge what it says is collusive conduct in the rental housing market with a lawsuit against a software company that it believes allows large landlords to fix prices.
The DOJ is planning to sue RealPage Inc., a software company used by landlords across the country, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
DOJ staff recently recommended a civil lawsuit against RealPage that would accuse the company of selling software that enables landlords to illegally share confidential pricing information in order to collude on setting rents. The recommendation escalates the investigation to the antitrust division’s leadership, including Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter. Also on the table for a complaint is the landlords’ ability to use the software to match vacancy rates, essentially restricting supply, at competing buildings in the same rental market, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a confidential investigation.
The Biden administration has made cracking down on anti-competitive activity a cornerstone of its domestic economic agenda, and antitrust enforcers at the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission are key to that goal. High housing costs are a particular priority for the administration, with President Joe Biden in his State of the Union Address in March calling out rental prices, saying, “For millions of renters, we’re cracking down on big landlords who break antitrust laws by price-fixing and driving up rents.” Later that month the president was in Nevada, discussing actions to fight “rent gouging among corporate landlords.”
The Justice Department has also prioritized so-called algorithmic price-fixing, with multiple officials, including Kanter, saying the use of software to fix prices does not provide cover for illegal collusion.
RealPage and its landlord clients have been under investigation for at least the past two years, primarily as a civil matter, though the DOJ sent out criminal grand jury subpoenas earlier this year, POLITICO previously reported.
A civil case against RealPage could come by the end of the summer, the people said, though no final decision has been made.
The DOJ declined to comment.
The whole United States is one big rental market collusion scheme. Are they kidding? You got half the county who works for one person for money, only to hand most of it to someone else every month to keep a roof over their head. It's like slavery with more rights!
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