Small mom and pop landlords like the ones that rent basement suites or have that second little house on a funky street they rent out room by room are very important. They were always the best to rent from , they never asked much about your past if they liked you you were in. Sometimes you had to fix stuff yourself but it usually worked out, they left you alone.
There was always exceptions , like bad ones, but there was also horror renters they had to deal with. The bad was about even, probably skewed toward there being more mean scummy renters than mom and pops, but there both existed in spades.
Now all the rentals are being bought up by corps or taken off the market there is a rental crisis in the some places. Who blocks that used to have 30% rentals now have none. The ones taht exist are pure profit driven, and they will reject anyone with a slightly bad credit or a dog. Not mom and pops they were flexible.
It was a low profit thing, often taking decades before anyone seen anything extra in their bank. Most of the payments went to bank interest, taxes and maintenance, throw in a bad renter every few years and they started just being a cash cow for everyone else.
This is where students could rent whole houses.
The truth is many renters can't or don't want to own, it takes all your free time and is a huge struggle, most homeowners of a 1970 home are overwhemened with repairs and costs, stress and fatigue. Some people just can't do. Smart people just don't want that. Renting is way better for many people.
Anyways.