People have done it at city scales. See Singapore. Govt is the biggest landlord there (but the reason they did it was not because they cared about human rights

People have done it at city scales. See Singapore. Govt is the biggest landlord there (but the reason they did it was not because they cared about human rights or anything, but as a part of "infra" development to draw in foreign investment and MNCs and their employees to set up shop in Singapore). It has worked out quite well on both fronts. Vienna, Austria is also constantly used as an example - https://www.visitingvienna.com/culture/social-housing/ https://www.visitingvienna.com/culture/social-housing/