ST. LOUIS COUNTY — A ӣƵ County woman alleges an AI algorithm prevented her from renting a home, claiming the technology discriminates based on race and income.
Nakeisha Jones alleges in a lawsuit filed in ӣƵ County Circuit Court that SafeRent Solutions’ AI-powered model relies on a person’s credit history to generate a “score” that assesses their potential risk as a tenant, but that the company does not disclose how these factors are weighed in the calculation. Minorities on average have lower median credit scores than white consumers, the suit says.
The lawsuit claims that the AI model overlooks housing choice vouchers, a form of rental assistance provided by the federal government for eligible participants, when calculating a person’s score.
Jones is seeking class-action status for her lawsuit, which she filed on Monday.
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SafeRent President Larry Wilson did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
“SafeRent effectively told the landlord that Ms. Jones would not be a good tenant, and the landlord accepted that characterization,” according to court documents.
In 2024, Jones applied to rent a single-family home off Koch Road in O’Fallon, Missouri, and disclosed she had a housing voucher worth $2,000 a month. The home was built in 2013, and featured several bedrooms, a two-car garage and community amenities like a swimming pool, walking trails, a clubhouse and a sport court, according to court documents.
But in August, Jones received an email from the landlord stating her application was denied because her rental score didn’t meet its requirements. She then visited the landlord’s office in Earth City but was told by an employee there that the company could not do anything about the denial because it used SafeRent’s scores to screen potential tenants.
After she was denied the O’Fallon home, Jones moved into a home built in 1967 with fewer bedrooms, a one-car garage, and without community amenities. The lawsuit claims the home is also in a “dangerous and less desirable” area.
“Jones, and similarly situated minority consumers, have suffered an ascertainable loss by being deprived of the ability to rent their first-choice of home and by being pushed into less desirable housing options because of discriminatory reasons,” according to court documents.
Black and Latino consumers on average have lower credit scores than white consumers, and those using housing vouchers also typically have lower credit scores; the lawsuit alleges that using credit to determine a rental application is discriminatory because a person’s credit includes non-rental debt and that it doesn’t show a renter’s current risk.
Thousands of people are at risk of being discriminated against due to this AI model, court documents show.
The lawsuit is the latest litigation against SafeRent, in the state of Massachusetts over similar claims.
In that case, SafeRent did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to not use its scoring on applications in certain cases. It also paid over $2.2 million.
A federal judge the settlement in November, three months after Jones’ application was denied.
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