Corporate landlords, or really any landlord for that matter, can't squeeze anybody if they have other options. And in my personal experience, mom and pop landlords are just as greedy as corporate ones, but are less rational and obey the law less frequently.

> There is no lack of building

Putting something in italics doesn't make it true. In the vast majority of high demand areas, there's a smal smattering of new construction, far far less than comes close to meeting population demand, and locals freak out about the construction and vastly overestimate the amount. If your particular location is building 3%-5% more units per year, great, but most of the country is not and that means that every other place that's under building is displacing it's residents to where you live, easily swamping whatever you call "more than natural population growth"