I end up passing all my tax increases on to my tenants, so rent goes up then politicians complain about rent being so high.

Those that make a living from dealing with or representing the poor, tenant organisations and other interest groupes have engaged powerful lobby groups that target air head socialist politicians to control government decisions.

With interest rates heading lower etc it seems unlikely and the politicians have no stomach for it either. 

Basic economics and facts don't really matter to our politicians.

It's vital as an industry for us to organize and talk about what the solutions are versus what the problems are or else while we're debating the latter, the politicians are making decisions on our behalf typically tilted towards the complaints of their constituents.

PEX is pretty much standard in all the places I've been.Pressure on politicians from the plumbers union is my guess, copper is much more expensive to install which equals more income for the installer.

I keep hearing politicians claim 'housing is a right" and the tenant could lose their "home"...... wait?

The general public and willfully ignorant politicians have that in mind as the rule, not the exception to the rule storm.

The City Planning office is a good resource to see where politicians want to deploy funds (no gaurantees on follow-thru or outcomes however)https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/planning/

Hotels are probably throwing Big money to the politicians .