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On Friday, organizers with Neighborhood First Whatcom strolled into Bellingham City Hall to supply a stack of ballot requests for a step to ban mathematical price-fixing in the rental market.
The initiative is based on instances from Seattle and Portland, Oregon, and would certainly forbid using software application that evaluates rental market information (including personal and sensitive info) to advise costs, lease renewal terms or tenancy degrees.
Volunteers and staff with the political team invested the past two months collecting almost 6, 000 signatures.
Senior organizer Selena Knoblauch claimed that many people that authorized the application were currently aware of the issue. While it’s tough to understand whether price-fixing is actually happening in a given rental market, Knoblauch stated the step worked as more of an “affirmative protection.”
Algorithmic price fixing price U.S. occupants concerning $ 3 8 billion in 2023, according to a 2024 record by the White Home Council of Economic Advisers. (The record has actually given that been eliminated from the White House site.)
In 2025, the Washington state Attorney general of the United States sued RealPage, a rates software application service provider, and a number of King Region property managers for antitrust violations. A 2026 state Senate expense prohibiting algorithmic cost dealing with was funded by Sens. Liz Lovelett of Anacortes and Sharon Shewmake of Bellingham, but the costs did not make it out of board.
Community First Whatcom chair Cleveland Harris II claimed that when one property management firm uses price-fixing software, it can have a causal sequence on the market and give other property owners cover to increase their very own rates, even if they do not use the very same software.
In 2025, Community First Whatcom efficiently led 2 ballot procedure campaigns around real estate, aiding pass a campaign restricting rental costs in Ferndale and a lessees’ rights effort in Bellingham. In 2023, the group helped pass two efforts in Bellingham, one offering tenant defenses and an additional increasing the city’s base pay above that of the state.
Harris claimed the company was “playing whack-a-mole” with lessee civil liberties and attempting to maintain rental pricing and protections on individuals’s minds and on the tally every year.
“Because our initial project, we’ve heard tales from Nooksack and Lynden, of people requesting this example there,” stated Seth Mangold, a longtime Area First Whatcom coordinator.
This round of signature event was no various, as organizers learnt through a lot of citizens who intended to authorize however didn’t stay in Bellingham. Those are typically the people that have actually currently been priced out of the city and currently commute to work from elsewhere in the area, Mangold pointed out.
If accredited by the Whatcom Area Elections Department, the measure will appear on Bellingham voters’ November tally. The step requires at the very least 3, 500 verified trademarks of signed up voters who live within city limits to be accredited.
Julia Tellman blogs about civic concerns and anything else that takes place to cross her workdesk; call her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com; 360 – 922 – 3090 ext. 107