Apart from the cause-effect argument the actual effect on people who are renting is more severe than that on people who buy-own houses, because the money for the rent comes out of the current cash flow, right now, right here. No capital subsidization via other taxpayers (your mortgage interest deduction) and no spreading effects out over 30 years. If you pay rent the effect of increases is immediate.

Which argues that rents CANNOT go up a lot... the money to pay the increases in an environment where real incomes are decreasing, is not available. Not really. Just how this plays out is not clear to me but I doubt that the whole system is actually stable.

Just saying that there are more sides to this story and I suspect that when things come together the result won't be as amusing as the final chase in "The Pink Panther" :-)