> Personally, the one group of people I have absolutely no sympathy for are landlords

As a counterpoint, I was a landlord of a cheapish condo (rented for 17 years), and also a decent house in a solid middle class neighborhood (rented for 5 years). Wasn't looking to be a landlord, fell into it (really long story involving divorce right before housing bubble burst). Needed to do something to tread water until the housing market returned, renting was the only sane option (or bankruptcy, which I abhor). Had 4 tenants over the 17 year span.

Anyhow, having no experience as a landlord I tried my best to treat my tenants as "real human beings" and not be the evil landlord character you see on television. Repairs on time, quality work (by me), below market rent, didn't raise rent often (had an elderly lady on HUD in one, only raised her rent once in 10 years). I really tried to make it work, treat them well and they'll treat me well I figured.

I learned several valuable lessons about tenants. By and large they can and will take advantage of any good will you give them, as they assume that you're screwing them somehow. They also will not take care of your property regardless of how well you treat them. Their attitude towards me can be summarized as "take what you can get while the getting is good". I did not have a single tenant that didn't burn down the relationship with me on their way out. I usually found out the tenant was planning to leave once they stopped paying rent. Twice they squatted, had to get a lawyer in both cases, took forever to get them out. Just a mess.

The experience was (and still is) quite shocking to me. Being the type of person that pays my bills on time, I figured that everyone else did as well. I learned the hard way that you have to protect yourself or you will end up getting screwed. End of the day it's financially stressful making my monthly mortgage payment (and lawyer) on a place that someone else lives in but isn't paying me rent.

It seemed to me that what all of my renters had in common was that they rented because they weren't responsible enough to own. Being poor is a trap for sure, but at the end of the day I don't feel bad for the people I dealt with. Maybe I should, but it's hard to look past having to pay a lawyer to reclaim control of my property.

Got out of being a landlord as soon as the market made it possible. I could feel the stress roll off me when I sold those places.

The entire experience really soured me. I don't give people the benefit of the doubt like I used to, and am a lot more jaded with random strangers. Talking about it now is bringing back bad memories.

That said, it sucks being poor for sure. It's hard to rise above it. And yes I'm sure most career landlords suck. You have to be a lot more callous than I was to make it work at scale. Personally I know I went above and beyond and was just treated poorly for it. I suppose I let that happen, but I'm never going to make that mistake again.

It's not so much that the poor can't catch a break, but that they don't recognize the break when they get it, and don't know how to follow through and/or capitalize on opportunity, and have no problem biting the hand that's helping them. It's a very moment-by-moment type of existence, I suppose it's survival instincts kicking in that explains some of the behavior. Lying is better than being homeless, etc.

Just one man's experience and my 2 cents. I wasn't a career landlord. Draw whatever conclusions you will.