The Portland City Council voted Wednesday to ban the use of algorithms to set residential rents.

The ban passed 8-2, with two councilors absent. Councilors Dan Ryan and Olivia Clark voted no.

Subscribing to real estate data services like RealPage has become increasingly common among landlords. Critics say the practice amounts to collusion that drives up rents for tenants as landlords effectively work in concert with one another. Landlord lobbyists say property managers use the software to understand the market and establish competitive rents.

Before the vote Wednesday evening, the debate took a turn when Ryan, a staunch opponent, described his weekly message to constituents in which he said he “inadvertently transposed” the words “national” and “socialism” in seeking to describe that

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