Community First Whatcom has kicked off a new fight at City Hall, filing a city ballot initiative that would block landlords from using software that organizers say helps coordinate rent hikes. The group needs roughly 3,500 certified signatures to put the measure in front of Bellingham voters this November.
Labeled Initiative 26-01, the proposal would ban paid “coordinating services” that analyze public and private rental data and then recommend prices to multiple landlords at once. Supporters are pitching it as a local fix to what they describe as a growing national problem tied to landlord pricing software.
According to a notice filed March 24 with the Whatcom County Auditor's office, the draft ordinance would add a new chapter to the Bellingham Municipal Code and spells out petition text that would make such conduct unlawful. The filing also sets the ballot title and lays out the rules petitioners have to follow before signatures can be circulated and certified.
What's in the measure
The petition language would bar two or more landlords from entering into any agreement, written, verbal or implied, to establish rental prices. It would also prohibit service providers from offering coordinating services to more than one landlord.
As reported by the Bellingham Herald, the text creates a private right of action, builds in whistleblower and anti-retaliation protections for tenants and employees, and authorizes civil and criminal penalties for violations.
Why backers say it's needed
Supporters point to federal analysis and state enforcement actions that they say show the stakes. A White House Council of Economic Advisers analysis estimated that algorithmic price coordination raised renters' bills by about $70 a month on average and roughly $3.8 billion nationally in 2023. The Washington Attorney General's office also sued RealPage and several landlords in 2025, alleging similar anticompetitive conduct.
Local precedent and next steps
The Bellingham proposal follows a wave of local and county measures. King County passed a law last year that prohibits algorithmic rent fixing and directed an enforcement study, according to King County, and several cities have adopted related limits.
Community First Whatcom, the group behind Initiative 26-01, has led recent tenant-protection and fee-limiting ballot campaigns in the city and says it needs about 3,500 certified signatures to qualify for the Nov. 3 ballot, according to Cascadia Daily. Organizers also maintain a campaign page at Community First Whatcom.
Legal questions
If voters approve the measure, the ordinance would allow tenants and employees to sue and would expose coordinating service providers and landlords to penalties for each affected unit and year. That language appears in the petition text itself, according to the Whatcom County filing.
The ballot push is unfolding while the Justice Department and state attorneys general are already suing RealPage and other parties over algorithmic pricing practices, a national legal battle that could shape how local bans are enforced. The Justice Department's filings in the RealPage matter provide the broader federal backdrop that Bellingham voters will be walking into.
