Another thing about assets that appreciate in value is that you don't
t have to pay taxes on them until you sell them. That is good becuase usually people do not have the income to pay taxes on the increased value of their assets.

However they are required to pay property taxes on the increased value and that causes some people problems. This hits the landlords too. Utilities and mantenence go up and increases their overall costs so they raise the rent. They go for market value. They have a lot of money invested and if they cannot get the same amount of return on investment from renting than they can for the same amount of money invested somewhere else, it is not worth the hassle.

It is like you could get $20 per hour as an employees so why would you work for $15 per hour just to be a good guy?

Look at the profit of the rental market compared to the drug companies. If you think renting is an easy job, just buy a house or something and rent it out.

The bad landlords are the slumlords that rent crappy housing with roaches etc. They rent cheap so the tenants can't complain because they cannot afford better.

This type of thing takes people's pride away and gives them low self esteem. These problems should be addressed. Although I have seen slums torn down and replaced by government housing which turned into crap in ten years time and had to be boarded up. And I have seen neighborhoods go the other way. Suddenly window flower boxes appear and the area takes an upturn. I think the difference is ownership rather than renting.