Why Bill 8-26 Risks Making MoCo’s Housing Crisis Worse

Montgomery County's ongoing and, arguably, self-inflicted housing challenges may get another shot in the foot. On February 10, Councilmember Will Jawando introduced the Anti-Algorithmic Price Fixing Act (Bill 8-26), pitched as a safeguard for renters against collusion and unfair price-setting. However, if enacted, it could further alienate developers in a county where multifamily housing permits have plummeted 97 percent in the two-and-a-half years since lawmakers enacted rent control legislation.

Bill 8-26 would restrict the use of algorithmic pricing tools across rental markets and ban coordinated pricing behavior. Rather than relying on traditional antitrust standards, it establishes a new county code regime that could expose landlords and developers to daily enforcement penalties. While preventing unlawful collusion is a legitimate goal, this bill adds yet another bureaucratic hurdle at a time when every extra regulatory burden can tip a project from feasible to unfinanceable.

Investors, lenders, and developers say long-term price suppression through rent control makes Montgomery County rental properties a risky proposition, and they are already taking their business elsewhere. Neighboring jurisdictions without rent stabilization laws have not seen permitting activity evaporate. Most remain stable, and a few are thriving.

Pairing algorithm bans with existing rent stabilization threatens to destroy what little builder confidence remains. Similar efforts to regulate rent-setting algorithms elsewhere have drawn fierce opposition from real estate trade groups like the National Apartment Association and National Multifamily Housing Council, which warn that such measures add uncertainty to an already challenging development climate. Builders and remodelers argue that existing antitrust laws already prohibit collusion and that a growing patchwork of local restrictions makes long-term investment riskier. In states like Colorado, Washington, and New York, these proposals have prompted aggressive lobbying, veto battles, and court challenges. Investors are not pulling any punches. Jurisdictions experimenting with new pricing restrictions are viewed as more complicated and less attractive places to build.

Protecting tenants from abuse is vital. However, when government regulation suppresses the development of new homes altogether renters ultimately suffer. A lack of new supply exacerbates the very price pressures policymakers say they are trying to solve. Bill 8-26 may be well-meaning, but within the current regulatory landscape, it serves as an additional layer of complexity that drives away builders and chills investment.

The last thing Montgomery County needs is another rule that suffocates housing supply.