It’s easy to blame a scapegoat for a problem without ever addressing the actual cause.

Over the past four years under the previous administration, the federal government opened the spending spigots, flooded the market with cheap money, and drove up the prices of goods and services like we haven’t seen in a generation. Food, gas and housing have all skyrocketed in price. To make matters worse, Arizona’s water policies, which many believe are flawed, have restricted the building of new homes, causing housing prices to rise even more.

Even though a vast majority believe that the overspending and flawed policies are the major cause for housing prices to soar, the Arizona attorney general and Department of Justice under the Biden administration filed a lawsuit blaming property management software for price increases. In March, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office sent a letter to Trump’s new attorney general, Pam Bondi, urging her to continue the case. 

Although this artificial intelligence-based software helps landlords determine the pricing for their houses and apartments, this technology also serves as a convenient scapegoat for the rising rent costs from 2021 to 2024. The narrative is simple and appealing — blame faceless corporations to save face for overspending and flawed policies, which fueled inflation and strained housing markets nationwide.

This market-based software uses the marketplace’s real-time data to recommend custom rental prices for each property in question. It’s similar to how the public uses Kelley Blue Book for used car purchases and the government uses AI to determine toll pricing. Sometimes, the technology recommends higher prices; sometimes, it suggests lower ones. It all depends on the market conditions in the given time and place, based on local realities and free of political bias. 

Just look at the Phoenix market. The average rent is $1,338 per month, which, per Apartments.com, is lower than the national average by 14%. If the software used by Arizona property owners always raises rents, why is rent in parts of Arizona lower than in many other parts of the country?

Inflation didn’t spike because a software company told landlords they could charge more; it spiked because the federal government pumped trillions of dollars into the economy, devaluing the dollar and driving up demand at a time when supply chains were already buckling.

Cheap borrowing rates incentivized speculative real estate investment, while zoning laws, construction costs, environmental regulations and a shortage of new housing supply failed to keep pace with population growth and demand. 

Dodging accountability for policy failures has happened since time immemorial, and the public is always left footing the bill. This case is no exception. Until the public demands a reckoning for the real culprits of inflation — profligate spending, reckless monetary policy and a failure to address structural housing shortages — politically motivated scapegoats will continue to take center stage while the root causes fester unchecked.

Fortunately, the Trump administration recognizes this, and it is currently laser-focused on reducing spending and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse — the true culprits of this affordability crisis. 

The Office of the Arizona Attorney General’s fear that the DOJ will soon drop the lawsuit against this all-too-convenient housing inflation scapegoat fits perfectly into the prism of the Trump administration’s no-nonsense brand of legislating and constant desire to address problems by their root rather than make policy-based excuses. Not only is this fair and just, but it is also what will help Arizona’s housing costs drop to levels that the hardworking people of this state can afford. 

And that’s great news all around.

Debbie Lesko serves on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors representing the 4th district. She previously represented Arizona’s 8th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2018 to 2025.