Ever since the first lawsuits over rental pricing software surfaced, politicians have tried to blame algorithms for America’s housing crisis.
But Trump’s DOJ recently settled an algorithmic-pricing case brought under the prior administration, narrowing it to concerns about data-sharing rather than any claim that software was driving rents higher. The settlement did not find coordinated landlord price-setting or rents rising outside normal market forces. Yet, Senator Elizabeth Warren continues to pound this argument, accusing algorithmic pricing of letting landlords “rip off renters,” and reviving a debate that already played out in 2023, 2024, and 2025. She brought this back because the politics of blame are easier than the politics of reform.
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