POR 2026-125 · Agenda item attachment · Jun 22 2026

POR 2026-125 FIRST IN COUNCIL June 22, 2026 City of Cambridge COUNCILLOR SOBRINHO-WHEELER MAYOR SIDDIQUI COUNCILLOR AL-ZUBI COUNCILLOR MCGOVERN WHEREAS: Businesses colluding to set prices artificially high has long been recognized as anti- competitive behavior that is harmful to consumers and illegal under U.S. law; and WHEREAS: In the modern era, there is growing concern about businesses employing shared pricing software, AI algorithms, or data analytics platforms to fix prices, restrict supply, or manipulate markets to facilitate tacit collusion and attempt to circumvent federal and state antitrust law; and WHEREAS: In rental markets, third parties can now serve as intermediaries for colluding businesses by aggregating market conditions, vacancy rates, and other property- owner-provided, nonpublic data to recommend or automatically fix uniform prices; and WHEREAS: According to the United States Department of Justice’s 2024 lawsuit against the country’s largest provider of rent-setting software, and a ProPublica report, this data collection resulted in double-digit rent increases in many markets throughout the country, and is cited as a main contributor to the astronomical rent increases; and WHEREAS: Cambridge residents, two-thirds of whom are renters, regularly rank housing affordability as their top issue in the biennial resident surveys; and WHEREAS: Massachusetts State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa’s bill H.1564, An Act relative to preventing algorithmic rent fixing in the rental housing market, seeks to ban the use of algorithmic price fixing in the rental housing market throughout the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS: Algorithmic rent fixing is already being regulated in several locations in the United States, including the cities of Providence and San Francisco; now therefore be it ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to confer with the relevant departments to explore the ability of the City to prohibit, restrict, or otherwise regulate the use of algorithmic price fixing in its rental housing market, including the potential drafting of ordinance language that would regulate algorithmic price fixing; and be it further ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to report back to the City Council in a timely manner.

A true copy; ATTEST:- Paula M. Crane, Interim City Clerk

City of Cambridge That the City Manager is requested to confer with the relevant departments to explore the ability of the City to prohibit, restrict, or otherwise regulate the use of algorithmic price fixing in its rental housing market, including the potential drafting of ordinance language that would regulate algorithmic price fixing and report back to the City Council in a timely manner.