> no sane landlord is leaving their place empty in hopes of market based rental increases There's plentiful documented cases of this happening. Rent rates for

> no sane landlord is leaving their place empty in hopes of market based rental increases There's plentiful documented cases of this happening. Rent rates for a building influence the average local market rate rents which influence the perspective returns that corporate bonds for landlords / developers in the area. Large scale landlords that hold many units in an area have an interest in not making it seem like rents in an area are decreasing since it limits their credit worthiness. The problem cycles on itself and creates these kinds of perverse incentives on their own due to the financialization of real estate. Meanwhile, units going empty means there's fewer people that can afford to live in an area and the city collects less taxes, limiting the services they're able to provide for the people and businesses that live/operate there.