Ok, hear me out before down voting.
In a fair market, not what we have now, landlords provide flexible housing that is free of certain responsibilities for the tenant. The landlord is supposed to:
- handle taxes
- fix stuff when it breaks
- replace old appliances
- call repair people
- provide building management
- hold certain legal and financial responsibilities and liabilities
If a unit becomes unsafe and uninhabitable, the landlord is supposed to arrange for comparable temporary housing.
This is a service that should be fairly compensated. The problem we have now is that corporate landlords are bleeding tenants dry of everything they can because housing is a necessity, and an open market will never be fair. On top of that, they barely do the things listed above if at all.