Cancelling rent and paying off the landlords is just crazy. Just look at the NYC Housing Authority which has been around since the 1934 and is the biggest slumlord in the city. Some of the tenants even came out for Trump at the Republican Convention for his help in improving living conditions there.
AS far as building Affordable Housing which is now required if you want tax abatement. This means that the builder has to set a side a per centage of apartments to be rented at affordable rates which sounds good. The problem is that most of them go for over $2,000.00 a month for a studio while the average income is $30,000.00 per year, so most people can qualify for them.