I don't know what happens in Australia in regards to this, or if it is relevant. I am not sure if there is any kind of rent control - I don't think there is in Finland, yet generally, it seems to work out through market forces. What there is though, are social services to for example, help women in abusive relationships break free.

I think in the US, each piece of it is somewhat broken and it compounds to make it all broken for most people, while people also seem to want to fight to keep the system as it is. It is a strange place from what I understand about it.