Great theory until you get removed from your home trying to make a point because the family of 3 with nowhere else to go doesn't have the luxury of caring about things like this thanks to the broke ass system we all reside in.
I mean, this is how businesses work in general. If you don't buy their products/services, then they wouldn't be able to continue providing them.
I understand that we're trying to draw attention to exploitative landlords, but if anyone can afford to keep their property regardless of whether or not you pay rent, it's the exploitative ones.
I used to rent, and then decided to buy my own home right before it became impossible to do so for most people. I wouldn't be able to afford to buy a house nowadays. I lucked out.
Renting was better in many ways because Jesus Christ there's so much shit I have to pay to fix. 5000$ furnace in the middle of -25 weather.
AC 3500$ died in summer. roof leak repair 1500$.. , rotting deck 5000$ DIY.
Foundation repair, crawlspace encapsulation, toilet replacement+flooring (35 year old terlet was leaking for years and had rotted the boards underneath). Fridge broke and had to buy our own to replace it, same thing happened to the stove. Back when I rented I would call the landlord and they'd replace it at no cost to me. It's a good thing we have credit to put this shit on, because without it we would be fucked. We used a mini fridge for 6 months because we had to save for a full size fridge when ours broke.
House maintenance is a killer. I can't just call my landlord up and tell them it needs to be done. Or if I had a shitty landlord who doesn't want to fix shit, like I've had in the past, I can't NOT care, move out eventually and it's not my issue once I'm gone. It'll come back to bite you when it's a house you have invested in and own.
Owning houses is expensive. Renting has a lot of perks and one of them is you aren't required to keep up the house. All that falls on the person you are renting from.
Now the frigging cost that some landlords are charging is criminal and a whole other story.
..So you're not living in the house in which you pay rent? You're paying for the landlord to live there?? Then where do you stay??? What is this logic??? It doesn't make sense.