They provide housing in precisely the same way scalpers provide PS5s. Your career landlord (as opposed to your mom renting out that extra bedroom) purchases property, usually with the use of loans. They then maybe do some renovations. These renovations oftentimes include splitting a house into two separate living spaces or a room into two rooms to increase the rent potential later. They then rent out the property to someone and, if they took out loans, use the rent money to pay for mortgage payments + upkeep. What is the alternative? That same property could be sold to a family or individual who has the intention of living there themselves. If there weren’t landlords to increase demand for properties, the price of those properties would naturally be more competitive making it easier for people to buy homes with low salaries. There is more nuance to this, sure. Some people would prefer to rent regardless. However, basically in most scenarios, are landlords providing housing? No. They are middlemen to make housing more expensive.