Supporters of a ballot proposal that would bar Bellingham landlords from using software that artificially inflates rent prices have gathered enough signatures to qualify the measure for the November general election, and City Council members are being asked to take the next step during next week’s meeting.
Community First Whatcom began gathering signatures for the initiative in April, and their effort has met the requirements, Whatcom County Auditor Stacy Henthorn said in a statement Monday.
“The Whatcom County Auditor’s Office completed reviewing signatures for the city of Bellingham Initiative 26-01, prohibition of algorithmic price-fixing in the rental market. The auditor issued a certificate of sufficiency on July 2,” Henthorn said.
A total of 3,167 signatures of registered voters in Bellingham were required to qualify the measure, a figure that according to law is based on 10% of the votes cast for Bellingham mayor in the previous election. Community First Whatcom submitted petitions with 5,692 signatures, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting. Typically, the signature-verification process ends once the legal threshold is reached.
Now, the Bellingham City Council will decide the measure’s fate. It’s scheduled for discussion when the council’s Committee Of The Whole meets at 1:55 p.m. Monday in City Hall, 210 Lottie St. The meeting will be live-streamed at the city’s You Tube channel.
City Council members have three choices to make, according to Deputy City Attorney James Erb.
“Council may enact the initiative, defer it to the voters, or reject the measure and propose an alternative measure that would appear on the ballot along with the initiative,” Erb said in a memo to the council included with next week’s meeting agenda.
Action is required by July 27. Otherwise, the measure automatically goes on the ballot.
“If council fails to take timely action, then the initiative bill shall be submitted by the finance director to the county Auditor’s Office for submission to the qualified electors for approval or rejection at the next general election,” Erb said.
In previous elections, Community First Whatcom proposed local ballot measures aimed at addressing renters’ and workers’ rights. Its measures have raised the minimum wage and banned facial recognition software, among others.
Algorithmic price-fixing occurs when landlords use software designed to give them recommendations on how to price their units, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting. It has gained national attention in recent years as software like RealPage gained popularity and rents continue to climb drastically.
Using internal data from clients including current prices, occupancy rates and the number of available units, critics argue these services artificially inflate rent across entire market areas by recommending price increases to multiple landlords using the same program.
Initiative 26-01, if passed, would: * Prohibit the use of paid algorithmic coordinating services to analyze public and private data about the rental market to recommend rental prices, lease renewal terms or occupancy levels to multiple landlords. * Prohibit two or more landlords from entering into an agreement to establish rental prices. * Create a private right of action. * Establish whistleblower and anti-retaliation protections for tenants and employees
In 2024, the White House Council of Economic Advisors released a report showing that algorithmic price-fixing, marketed by companies including RealPage, added an average of $70 per month to the cost of rent for units managed by users of these software programs. In 2023 alone, these algorithms are estimated to have cost American renters more than $3.8 billion.
RealPage has faced lawsuits by the Department of Justice and the Washington Attorney General’s Office for its practices.
A growing list of cities, including Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Berkeley, have moved to ban algorithmic rental price-fixing software.
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