Jun. 10, 2025
OPINION – It’s no secret that Sacramento has a rental affordability crisis. Roughly 30% of Sacramento residents spend half their wages on rent, and the California Housing Partnership found that renters in Sacramento County need to earn 2.1 times the state minimum wage to afford the county’s average monthly asking rent.
Some lawmakers are responding — but not in the right direction. Instead of addressing the root causes, they are targeting so-called “artificial intelligence” algorithms used in rental pricing software. Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (District 25), who represents Sacramento, recently introduced SB 52, the “End AI Rent Hikes Act,” aimed at banning AI-based pricing software some landlords use to help price their rents. The California attorney general, Cities of Berkeley and San Francisco, and even federal decisionmakers have proposed similar measures.