I am an economist who understands how markets work. I am also a former landlord of three residential properties.
Tenants deserve reasonable treatment. Abusive behavior by landlords AND tenants is not acceptable. But when government inserts itself into a market, it needs to understand the consequences of this action. If being a landlord is made less attractive, owners of single-family properties can sell them to prospective home owners, and the units are lost to the rental market. I have friends in the process of doing exactly that now.
I sold my rentals exited the business because the return I could get by investing in boring mutual funds were approximately what I could expect to earn by operating rental properties, without the hassle or the regulatory burden. Since I sold my properties 20 years ago, the S&P 500 has averaged about a 10% return. That is providing me a reasonably comfortable retirement. I don't need the hassle of being a landlord in an increasingly regulated marketplace.
The apartment owners are in a different position. They cannot easily sell their units to individual owners. This theoretically possible, through condominium conversion, but there are other obstacles to a conversion that are not easily overcome.
One alternative would be to impose stricter regulation on apartment owners, but not on individuals who one only a couple of homes. That would avoid the loss of existing rental units in the marketplace. It would, however, discourage new development of apartments, and that's no way to solve a housing crisis.
The ultimate solution is to pay living wages to those who are working, and to provide socially-supported housing to those who cannot earn an income.
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