That first bit is a slippery slope. If all the landlords and real estate agents know that mutually raising their prices together will force people to pay more because there is no alternative, they don't even have to get together in a shady room to plan it out. They just raise their prices. This is the kind of thing that happens to high demand necessities in the context of capitalism; people get raped financially over them. Food, housing, medical care, education? All super expensive when they don't have to be. There's a limit to what's acceptable to charge for life necessities considering the income of the average person. There are more and more homeless people every year. Usurers are going to get chastised hard at some point or another if they don't learn what that limit is.