No. Market forces (and in some places rent controls) will stop them. If anything, I would expect rents to come down. Landlords do not have a monopoly, they comp

No. Market forces (and in some places rent controls) will stop them. If anything, I would expect rents to come down. Landlords do not have a monopoly, they compete with each other. So they can't simply raise prices. That's the supply side. On the demand side, people will be more mobile, since to survive, they are no longer bound as strongly to places with jobs. Demand in places with high rents will go down, and in places with low rents will go up. On top of that, more people will be able to afford to buy a house (getting a mortgage is much easier if you have a guaranteed stable income) instead of renting, causing demand for rental units to go down.