I rented from a large landlord, thousands of units in metro Atlanta,tens of thousands nationwide. They had the same payment ratio during covid as pre-covid. The same people who are conscientious are conscientious regardless.
The same people who say “the dog ate the rent” are the same people who blame covid.
Many years ago I was landlord of apartments in Chicago. The working poor and the welfare had exactly the same income. The working poor always paid the rent. Never lost a dime on them. The welfare poor (with a few exceptions) always fell behind and never cought up.
bkmk
I’ve never owned a piece of property in all my 75 years. Always rented, always had a job to pay my rent each month. I’ve lived here about 23 years. I have a two bedroom, one bath apartment, galley-style kitchen, large dining area, large living room, walk-in closet in my bedroom and in the hallway, small food pantry in the same hallway, and a double closet with sliding doors in the 2nd bedroom, storage area in the basement, dish washer, garbage disposal, central air conditioning. I pay my own utilities. Garbage and water are included. If I told you what my rent was, you’d think I lived in the slums. The landlord just takes care of their long-term, elderly tenants. Most of the time if they have to raise the rent, they limit it to 5 or 10 bucks. They’ll have to carry me out of here.