San Diego Council bans algorithmic rent‑setting tools in 8–1 vote

San Diego’s City Council voted 8–1 on April 15 to ban the local use of automated rent‑setting software that relies on non‑public competitor data to recommend rental rates, a step council leaders said is necessary to protect renters from coordinated, algorithmic price hikes.

Councilmember Elo Rivera, who sponsored the ordinance, said the issue affects affordability across San Diego neighborhoods. “This software weaponizes otherwise private data from competing landlords to figure out just how high they can push prices,” Rivera said during debate, arguing that local action was needed alongside federal and state enforcement.

The ordinance defines an "algorithmic device" as software that uses one or more algorithms to process non‑public competitor data from two or more landlords to advise or recommend rental rates or occupancy levels for residential property in the City of San Diego. The draft includes explicit carve‑outs for published market…