Why So Many People Are Struggling With Housing

No, it doesn't make any sense at all, but you have to know that landlords (including rental management companies) and mortgage lenders (banks) have different methods of extracting money from the masses. And the masses (meaning most of us) have little recourse.  

However, my mind keeps going back to a story I read on some large newspaper site a few years ago about a landlord who had awful housing somewhere near DC. No plumbing, no heat, lots of bugs, etc. The people who lived there didn't want any inspections from the authorities, because the properties would be condemned, and then they would be homeless because there was no other housing they could afford.