The Jersey City Council passed a resolution calling on the New Jersey Legislature to ban the use of rent-setting algorithms, such as RealPage, to set the price and supply of rental apartments at last night’s meeting.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
“Things have gotten hard for working families like mine. Developers like Equity have been using algorithms to raise rents. My rent has almost doubled since I moved here,” Nick Rivera, a member of union 32BJ SEIU, said during public comment.
He said they might be violating anti-trust laws and squeezing workers. He added he and his wife worked at an Equity rental building that charged exorbitantly high rents (the union as a whole advocated for the local legislation).
“I was excluded from sharing in that prosperity,” Rivera added, noting he was fired for trying to organize his fellow workers for a union.
“I hope we all get our jobs back. We have yet to find new jobs. We are very behind on our bills. I don’t want to leave Jersey City. That would be heart breaking. We are struggling to make ends meet even when we work multiple jobs.”
Speaking in Spanish, Maribel Brisita said she has lived in Jersey City for 10 years and that it’s hard to pay rent in the city and rent-setting technology is making it worse. Brisita also said she worked in an Equity building where the rent is very high but pays workers poorly.
“It feels like an insult,” she said in Spanish, noting that she lives paycheck to paycheck, while she is willing to work a second job, that’s nearly impossible since she has to care for her children.
“RealPage has some very large lawsuits, class action lawsuits. I filed one of the largest real estate lawsuits in the history of this country last year,” Portside Towers East Association President Kevin Weller said, noting there was an FBI raid in Georgia.
Tara Smythe said apartment rents have skyrocketed in Portside Towers while the quality of life has plummeted to substandard levels. She blamed most of that on RealPage.
“I can’t believe Mayor Fulop has the audacity to frame a campaign for governor which centers on affordable housing while he ignores, gaslights, and censors his constituents who are actively fighting abuse by corporate landlords in direct violation of his city’s laws?” Jessica Rasulo asked.
“How has he acknowledged the plight of his constituents?
“Let’s actually deal with this s***,” Brendan Coughlin said.
Council President Joyce Watterman said profanity was not permitted and demanded an apology.
“I’m sorry for my language. We’re given assurances that seem like lies,” Coughlin replied.
Erin Kent said she was thrilled that HCV’s coverage on the resolution in question was poised to pass decisively.
“To know this rent crisis was artificially created, that landlords and developers are essentially colluding to jack up rent prices for everyone else is a slap in the face,” she declared.
Kent also thanked Ward E Councilman James Solomon for spearheading the effort.
In the middle of speeches largely denouncing the city, acting Corporation Counsel Brittany Murray wished to provide an update on the Portside Towers situation.
“The recalculations are not yet done. I know Director Richardson has been speaking to you all about where they’re at. We’re at five years of base rent calculations completed. We’ve added additional personnel to it,” she explained.
Murray said they lowered the qualifications of the paperwork necessary to submit to claim to be overcharged rent.
“He was speaking to you right?” Watterman asked.
She also confirmed more people have been assigned the task.
Carol Cho also criticized the process.
“We’re supposed to be here to make some change and I’m getting wildly frustrated that I’ve been here since October. When will we receive our um rent overpayments? What is the right question so I get a response?” she questioned.
“She just wants to know the timeline,” Watterman noted.
“We’re not going to be able to answer that. There’s two lawsuits and I expect two more after the recalculations come out. There’s no way to tell,” Murray argued.
“Are we looking to do a roll back or freeze?” Ward F Councilman Frank “Educational” Gilmore asked.
“Director Richardson is doing his recalculations. Once he has it, they’re able to challenge it. That’s all we can say,” Murray answered.
Gilmore wanted to know if they could fine them based on each tenant afterward.
“She said she couldn’t’ give an answer,” Watterman noted.
“That would be something for Director Richardson,” Murray said.
Adrian Orozco, of the SEIU 32BJ, said they represent many workers in rental buildings.
“They’re also suffering from a cost-living crisis exacerbated by the same landlords who are allegedly colluding to raise rents. RealPage and Yardi are now subject to multiple lawsuits and investigations, including a criminal investigation of RealPage by the Department of Justice,” he explained.
“The industry is charged with breaking anti-trust law by combining proprietary data from would be competitors and colluding to inflate rent. We found data from at least 70 Jersey City buildings, that’s 20,500 units… suggesting owners shared their data to use the tool.”
He argued that many longtime residents have already been forced to move out of the city.
“Rents truly are going through the roof in Jersey City and New Jersey and across the country. The investigations into RealPage and other similar softwares have revealed that billion dollar corporations are in essence creating a cartel. They are sharing information with each other to artificially raise rents,” Solomon declared.
“This software actually penalizes landlords if they try to set a lower rent. It’s the absolute opposite of what a free market is: It is what greed brings.”
The council approved the measure unanimously (7-0), with Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano and Councilwoman-at-Large Amy DeGise absent.
