It's super fucked up how people basically are constantly essentially getting taxed more and more for the right to survive. No one should be profiting off basic needs

That being said, the system is fucked up, and if you're mainly using their rents to pay for equity, you're playing by the rules while doing more good than harm. It can still be a win-win, and I think it's ok to feel good about that

Homes shouldn't be an investment vehicle, but they are - you should seek to help fix the broken rules, but it's foolish to just ignore them. Most investments have a similar effect somewhere down the line anyways

But the real question is - are you actually a landlord? Technically yes, but in spirit? If you're not making much of a profit from rent, you're not what people mean when they say landlord. The upper middle class has been dabbling in rental properties for a while, but that's not who the term refers to - it's people who own enough that the rental income is the line item they're keeping track of.

The starting line is like 20-30 units, and it's mostly held by investment groups or families that inherited a town... They're who own most rental properties out there

If you rent out a few places and don't put much thought into adjusting the rent, you're not the problem here. You're not the one we're talking about when we talk about landlords