Right now, Republicans in Congress are moving to slash funding for housing vouchers, food assistance and health care, threatening the stability of families across the country. In this moment of federal retreat, Colorado must step up to protect those most vulnerable to rising costs.
Instead, Gov. Jared Polis vetoed House Bill 1004, a bill that would have prohibited Colorado landlords from using price-fixing algorithms to keep apartments off the market and artificially inflate rents.
The numbers don’t lie: Colorado renters are being pushed to the brink. In 2024, evictions hit an all-time high. This year, they’re continuing to rise. In Denver alone, eviction filings surged from 1,236 in March to 1,493 in April. Rents are up 74% over 10 years.
The rental housing market is not simply set by supply and demand. If it were, rents would be falling for everyday people. But instead, they’re only falling in luxury units in downtown Denver. In older buildings — where working families live — rents are up because of these algorithms.
The issue sounds wonky, but it is straightforward: In the old days, landlords illegally colluded by agreeing on similar rents in smoky back rooms. Now, corporate landlords use algorithms like YieldStar and RentMaximizer to secretly collude — without ever speaking — to hike rents and keep apartments off the market. They would otherwise compete on price, but each landlord knows that their competitors are part of the scheme. When each landlord sets rents the same way, they all win.
In his veto letter, Gov. Polis argued that if this kind of collusion is happening, it is a violation of existing antitrust law. But here’s the reality: We know it’s happening. Reputable reports, including from the Biden-Harris White House, have shown the harm of algorithmic price coordination. And the Department of Justice sued RealPage and participating landlords over these practices.
Current antitrust law was designed a century ago for a different era, one of human agreements and direct conspiracies. It was not built for today’s economy, where technology can facilitate collusion without a paper trail or a single conversation between competitors. House Bill 1004 was carefully designed to modernize state law, providing Colorado renters additional protection from predatory practices without impacting the use of legitimate, everyday technology.
Based on the well-resourced lobbying effort against it, this bill made clear to corporate landlords and Silicon Valley that it was illegal to hide coordinated rent increases behind an algorithm. Without action, corporate landlords win, and everyday people lose. The governor’s veto signals that those who have the most may continue to take extra rent from tenants who have the least. Indeed, they celebrated the veto as “courageous.”
As an eviction defense attorney and the executive director of United for a New Economy, or UNE, we see the impact every day on our clients and our members: 1 in 3 renters is on the brink of homelessness.
Erika, an UNE member and single mother of three kids, is one of the tens of thousands of Coloradans harmed by algorithmic price fixing. For years, her rent increased faster than inflation, which averages 5% a year. Over the past two years, it dramatically increased by 35%, leaving her struggling to keep up with rising costs and forcing her to choose between groceries and school supplies or rent.
While working with UNE, Erika discovered that RealPage, the country’s largest rent price-fixing provider, was behind her dramatic rent increase. A 2024 White House report found that RealPage-driven rent increases cost Colorado renters like Erika over $1,600 per year more than they would otherwise pay.
Research from the Government Accountability Office shows that for every $100 increase in monthly rent, homelessness rises by 9%. This means that in Denver, homelessness may have increased by nearly 10% more than it would have if companies like RealPage were barred from collusion.
House Bill 1004 was designed to deliver immediate relief for Colorado renters:
It would have put $1,600 a year back into people’s pockets. It would have stopped landlords from holding apartments vacant to artificially inflate prices. It would have restored meaningful competition in the rental market, ending software-enabled price coordination that locks renters into paying more.The cost of algorithmic rent-fixing can be measured in Colorado families paying more for rent every month, seniors on fixed incomes struggling to stay housed, and homelessness rates climbing across the state. While national antitrust law is still catching up, Colorado missed its chance to act thoughtfully and decisively to protect people from economic abuse.
At the heart of this issue are the people who keep Colorado running. Renters are teachers, caregivers, essential workers, and young people building their futures. They are the backbone of Colorado’s economy and neighborhoods. Our housing policies should reflect a state that values all of us — not just those with the most wealth and power.
Carmen Medrano of Adams County is the executive director of United for a New Economy.
Sam Gilman of Denver is an eviction defense attorney and co-founder of the Community Economic Defense Project.
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