In 2024, Philadelphia became the second city in the United States to ban landlords from using software systems that pool private leasing information about renters and rental properties in order to drive up prices and push the local rent ceiling. Madison Gray, staff attorney at the Public Interest Law Center, shared testimony in support of the bill that outlawed the practice with the Philadelphia City Council Committees on Housing, Neighborhood Development, and Homelessness.
In her testimony, Gray spoke of the city’s affordable housing crisis, sharing about the Law Center’s work advocating for tenants across the city and the outsized impact that a few large landlords have on Philadelphia’s housing prices. She called on City Council to take action against this technology that further exacerbates a situation that is already dire for many.
The bill passed in City Council on October 24, 2024 and was signed into law by Mayor Parker on November 13, 2024
Read Madison’s full testimony: 24.10.16 PILC Rent Algorithms Hearing