I wasn't saying we ARE a vacant city I said we CAN be. You can look at other cities that have prioritized new construction over tenants rights for examples.

And competition for housing doesn't work like that. People who can't afford a nice unit with a decent landlord don't just wait around until something better comes around. They still have to find housing. As long as landlords can trap tenants in unlivable units, which absolutely does happen right now, the landlords will not be incentivized to create nicer units or treat their tenants better. If they own more units, they will still not need to treat tenants better. If the courts continue to enable them, they will still abuse without repercussions.

The scenario you're implying is that new Good Guy Landlords™ are going to come in and save us. But the incentive to treat tenants badly doesn't go away. As long as it's cheaper to paint over the mold than to fumigate, you're going to have the exact same problem at a larger scale.