To correct in specifics but not character: there were renter support/eviction prevention programs, as well as some amount of eviction moratoriums. All almost wi

To correct in specifics but not character: there were renter support/eviction prevention programs, as well as some amount of eviction moratoriums. All almost without fail came alongside mortgage/homeowner relief (with owners able to accept the latter while rejecting the former, covering their own asses while leaving renters in the lurch). My personal experience was with an EP program that provided 1) reassuring but functionally useless legal assistance - they couldn't do anything if you didn't have the money - and 2) back-rent cash assistance. The latter (predicated on you having a balance with your landlord but having not actually been kicked out yet) was hobbled by low funding, a long wait list, a process fractured across jurisdictions, and an invasive application process. We only received assistance because we got a tip from our legal assistance rep that the fund had been quietly reopened to applications after half a year of senescence. Ultimately, this did not prevent our eviction, as our property manager's next step was to raise our rates as much as 30% (annual increase + month-to-month fees). Meanwhile, even at the highest levels of monetary policy, the aim has been to placate hysterical homeowners. Beyond aid programs, beyond preexisting tax incentives, you have the Fed refusing to Volcker us out of the way of catastrophic inflation with an appropriate rate increase, because it would wipe out the market and put everyone who wasn't in a fixed-rate loan for a house they don't plan to leave in dire straits. Instead, we let rental property owners mask their price-fixing under the guise of inflation.