[Overtonwindow]

They are!!! Especially in the larger cities. In fact, in some ways I think landlords and apartment companies raise rents deliberately to push certain classes of people out. In the last apartment complex I live at before I purchased my house, there were numerous restrictions on how many people you could have over, how long a guest could stay at your apartment, even how long your car could take up a parking space. We were spied on, constantly monitored, and we were always under the threat of an exorbitant rent increase. It was not unheard of for someone to get a $300 Per month increase in the rent when they went to renegotiate their lease. This was an upper-class, "nice" complex. I can't imagine what it's like for low income people. Living in an apartment is awful, and you are absolutely at the whims of corporations and landlords.