What currently stops landlords from raising rents such that no renter has any disposable income? Surely my landlord isn’t simply convinced that I am paying them every cent that I could possibly afford to pay them.
As much as it has been tortured and mutated there are still market forces driving things. Supply of housing stock, supply of renters, their ability to pay at all levels of the economy from jumbo mortgages down to section 8 housing are all factors driving the marketplace.