February 04, 2025

Warren, Gallego, Senators Call for Investigation into RealPage Algorithm Potentially Hiking Rents for Military Families, Siphoning Money from U.S. Military

“These findings raise significant concerns that landlords are profiteering by taking taxpayer money that is intended to support military families.”

Text of Letter (PDF) 

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee led a letter to Secretary of the Department of Defense (DoD), Pete Hegseth, calling for an investigation into whether landlords may be using property management software company RealPage’s services to price gouge military families. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) joined the letter. 

DoD provides servicemembers with a Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) to cover the costs of owning or renting privately managed housing, an allowance that is adjusted periodically by region to keep up with housing costs. In 2023, DoD spent $24 billion on housing allowances for servicemembers. 

There are long-held concerns that landlords are raising rents to pocket these BAH increases, rather than raising rents because of market conditions. One recent study even found that it was “common for landlords to base their rent on the BAH for a particular rank,” so servicemembers see no difference in their yearly income. 

Services provided by RealPage may enable landlords to raise rents even more aggressively, to the detriment of military families, by allowing landlords to exchange proprietary information about lease terms and rents and to set prices using non-public information.

DOJ and state attorneys generals have already alleged that RealPage contributed to excessive rental costs in several places where DoD raised housing allowances, including Houston, San Diego, Spokane, and Wilmington. Florida has also opened an investigation into whether RealPage is violating antitrust laws; notably, military housing rents increased across Florida during 2022 and 2023 including inMiami, West Palm Beach, Volusia County, and Fort Myers Beach. 

In addition to hurting military families, unsustainable housing prices have negative implications for recruitment and retention for our military. Increasing housing costs are forcing families to delay moves and choose housing in unsafe neighborhoods or with low-quality conditions. Unlike civilian families, military families “do not have the opportunity to stabilize their housing costs due to frequent relocation.” 

A recent Government Accountability Office report on military housing confirmed the negative impacts of high housing prices, including servicemembers taking on debt or commuting long distances for quality housing. 

“The Department of Defense has a responsibility to protect military families from predatory private housing companies and ensure that taxpayer dollars meant for military families are not being pocketed by unscrupulous landlords,” wrote the senators. 

The senators requested that DoD provide information on whether algorithms like RealPage’s are artificially driving up housing prices for military families by February 13, 2025. 

Senator Warren has been a leader in raising concerns about problems with privatized military housing and led the push to protect military families:

  • In September 2024, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), along with Representatives Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Don Davis (D-N.C.) introduced the Restore Military Families’ Voices Act, which would bar private military housing companies from imposing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) on tenants as a condition for housing services. 
  • In September 2024, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), along with Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA-06),demanded answers from 13 corporate landlords operating in Massachusetts, asking these companies whether they are using RealPage’s algorithm to raise rents for Massachusetts families. 
  • In July 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) led colleagues in calling out the Department of Defense (DoD) for failing to protect military families living in military housing operated by private companies under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI).
  • In May 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren led an annual hearing highlighting personnel priorities for the Department of Defense (DoD) and the military services for the coming year, including military housing and child care.
  • In April 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Army Secretary Christine Wormuth on the need to increase military housing availability and the damaging impact of non-disclosure agreements between private landlords, servicemembers, and their families on housing safety at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 
  • In December 2023, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced further enforcement of the Tenant Bill of Rights for servicemembers and their families as one of the key priorities secured in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), as well as creating a working group of DoD officials and military families to ensure ongoing oversight of deficiencies in privatized military housing. 
  • In December 2023, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin requesting information on the Department of Defense’s (DoD) plans to address the unhealthy prevalence of mold, lead-based paint, and asbestos in housing for America’s servicemembers.
  • In October 2023, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin raising concerns that Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) families had to pay out of pocket to modify their homes to meet their families’ needs and asking for additional information about DoD’s oversight of the program.
  • In June 2023, Senator Elizabeth Warren, along with other Senate Armed Services Committee members, announced thereintroduction of the bipartisan Military Housing Readiness Council Act, which would provide a platform for oversight and accountability of privatized military housing to give military families a voice and bring together experts to ensure military families have the safe housing they deserve.
  • In December 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressing concern over reports that military families are being forced to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with privatized military housing companies in order to receive compensation for poor housing conditions.
  • In December 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced her provisions to require military housing companies to disclose mold and the health effects of mycotoxins before a lease is signed was included in the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.
  • In August 2022, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) introduced the Military Housing Readiness Council Act, legislation that would ensure oversight and accountability on safe housing conditions for servicemembers and military families. The legislation would create a Military Housing Readiness Council comprised of DoD officials, servicemembers, military families, and military housing experts to ensure ongoing oversight of deficiencies in privatized military housing. 
  • In June 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced the Military Housing Oversight and Service member Protection Act as one of her key priorities for the FY 2023 NDAA. The proposal would ensure medical care for military families affected by unsafe housing by directing DoD to establish a health registry for all servicemembers and families and establishing a presumption of service-connected disability for servicemembers and lifetime medical care for dependents.
  • In February 2022 during a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing, Elizabeth Warren pressed Pentagon nominees for tough oversight as they improve military housing conditions
  • In July 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced improving military housing as one of her key priorities for FY 2022 NDAA 
  • In January 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren requested Defense Secretary Austin for his public commitment to respond and make a priority to her requests about military housing issues during a SASC hearing
  • In March 2021, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) wrote to Defense Secretary Austin, and Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, continuing the lawmakers' investigation into whether the largest military housing providers under the Military Housing Privatization Initiative are complying with federal laws that protect Americans with disabilities. 
  • In December 2020, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) questioned the five largest private military housing providers about their reported failure to provide adequate housing to families with disabilities.
  • In May 2019, Senator Elizabeth Warren released the findings from her three-month-long investigation of the Military Housing Privatization Initiative and of five private companies that have contracts with the military services to provide on-base housing under the program. She sent letters to then-SASC Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and then-Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and to the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, to provide each with the results of her investigation, revealing how and why private military housing developers failed to meet basic housing standards, which in some cases resulted in severe health problems for military families.
  • In April 2019, Senator Elizabeth Warren and then-Representative Deb Haaland introduced the Military Housing Oversight and Service Member Protection Act, a comprehensive bill to address a series of disturbing reports revealing unsafe and unsanitary conditions in privatized, on-base housing for military personnel and their families.