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   From: nutsrus@portland.com   
      
   Angelita Morillo, Portland nutjob.   
      
   The Portland City Council this week will consider a ban on landlords using   
   artificial intelligence algorithms to set rents, a practice that’s been   
   widely criticized as price-fixing.   
      
   The ban will get another chance in the spotlight after its champion,   
   Councilor Angelita Morillo, tabled it earlier this year to keep an eye on   
   a lawsuit in Berkeley, Calif. over a similar ban.   
      
   Morillo and renters’ advocates have said the ban would help keep rents   
   lower, especially in buildings that are managed or owned by large rental   
   companies known for using AI software to set rents, most famously a   
   company called RealPage.   
      
   But the proposal rankled housing industry groups earlier this year, and is   
   likely to rankle them again now that it’s been resurrected. Last week, the   
   full council discussed the ordinance and heard testimony from members of   
   the public. Representatives from industry groups said the policy would   
   further disincentivize housing production in a city that desperately needs   
   more units. Such groups have also said that the ban could accidentally   
   implicate small landlords and that the financial penalties could   
   financially cripple them. (Morillo and other backers of the ordinance have   
   said small landlords are not frequent users of such software.)   
      
   Tyler King, a local realtor, testified to the council in opposition.   
   “Since 2018 we have added regulation after regulation on housing providers   
   to little or no measurable improvement for tenants,” King said. “Every   
   time we add an unnecessary risk, we slow down the very housing production   
   we all say we want.”   
      
   Councilor Mitch Green, a member of the council’s progressive caucus   
   alongside Morillo, took issue with some of the criticisms from industry   
   groups.   
      
   “The threats that any amount of regulation to protect renters will result   
   in private equity markets doing a capital strike is something we need to   
   call the question on,” Green said. “I’m not going to tolerate that in this   
   city.”   
      
   After questioning by Councilor Dan Ryan (“the last thing this market needs   
   is more regulatory barriers like this one to solidify the narrative that   
   Portland is not interested in development and not open for business,” Ryan   
   said in his closing remarks), Morillo aimed pointed words at her   
   colleagues who appear poised to vote against the ordinance this week.   
      
   “Our office is trying to pass certain policies, and I would appreciate it   
   if my colleagues could start focusing on their own work and bringing   
   policies that are going to help us build housing in Portland rather than   
   nitpicking things that I’m working on,” Morillo said. “I can actually walk   
   and chew gum at the same time. If you’re incapable of doing that, that’s   
   not really my concern but it’s certainly Portlanders’ concerns that are   
   voting you in.”   
      
   https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2025/11/17/council-this-week-will-   
   consider-ban-on-using-ai-to-set-rents/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)