The DOJ’s brief, filed jointly with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, dismisses that claim, saying the act and associated case law leave no ambiguity.“Housing providers and tenant screening companies that use algorithms and data to screen tenants are not absolved from liability when their practices disproportionately deny people of color access to fair housing opportunities,” Department of Justice civil rights division leader Kristen Clarke said in a statement.But although claimed to improve efficiency or identify “better tenants,” as SafeRent marketing material suggests, tenant-screening algorithms could be contributing to historically persistent housing discrimination, despite decades of civil rights law.“It’s a relief that this is being taken seriously—there's an understanding that algorithms aren't inherently neutral or objective and deserve the same level of scrutiny as human decisionmakers,” says Michele Gilman, a law professor at the University of Baltimore and former civil rights lawyer at the Department of Justice.“Just the fact that the DOJ is in on this I think is a big move.”A 2020 investigation by The Markup and Propublica found that tenant-screening algorithms often encounter obstacles like mistaken identity, especially for people of color with common last names."