The Board of Supervisors unanimously supported a bill that bars landlords from using software that critics say facilitates collusion between landlords.

San Francisco moved ahead with a ban on rent-setting software that critics say “facilitates illegal collusion by allowing landlords to share normally private data on pricing and occupancy rates.”
As Keith Menconi explains in the San Francisco Examiner, the city became the first jurisdiction to ban the sale and use of such software by landlords. “The measure also allows both renters and tenants’ rights nonprofits to sue over violations,” Menconi adds.
One software developer, RealPage, is being sued in multiple jurisdictions. “The lawsuits alleged that RealPage’s software, sold under the brand name AI Revenue Management, makes rental-price recommendations based on a vast pool of proprietary industry data collected from landlords that use the technology, allowing them to indirectly coordinate their decisions and, in effect, act as a price-fixing cartel.”
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, who authored the bill passed unanimously by the Board, says many of San Francisco’s largest landlords are RealPage clients. RealPage faces additional accusations that its software helps landlords maintain artificially high vacancy rates and impacts the broader rental market.
FULL STORY: SF bans automated software accused of price-fixing housing rents

National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.

Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.

Delivering for America Plan Will Downgrade Mail Service in at Least 49.5 Percent of Zip Codes
Republican and Democrat lawmakers criticize the plan for its disproportionate negative impact on rural communities.

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Balancing Bombs and Butterflies: How the National Guard Protects a Rare Species
The National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap uses GIS technology and land management strategies to balance military training with conservation efforts, ensuring the survival of the rare eastern regal fritillary butterfly.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service