It’s actually a smart move by Maduro. It creates a new class of people who will want to keep him in power, because if he’s removed by a conservative party who is likely to reverse the decree, the renters are out.
Venezuela is a perfect democracy, which most people don't get. Maduro's party gets more than 51% of the vote. It gets that support by looting the 49% and giving it to their supporters. This is just more of the same thing. The game stops when the 49% run out of things to have stolen from them.
That is how Chavez and now Maduro have kept control, stealing from those that have and giving to those that don’t. They redistributed farmland to people that don’t know how to farm and now they have to import most of their food. But it is all good and fair, because everybody has to stand in line with ID cards to receive rations.