I'd be in one heck of a situation if I had all of my units go vacant for a month or two, and expect to have that money to pay expenses...and no safety net.However, what if you could take your side of the equity and find your feet. 

For that extra psychological safety of handling a that multi-M upscale luxury property transaction maybe worth it, but that's not your market. 

Operations- tenants refusals, either cull them before they get to you by requiring autopay as an example, document on their application why you refused them, make sure your facilities are maintained properly and no safety hazards exist, etcLLC.

My questions are:- is it worth investing there in terms of the safety of tenants?

It’s a very small asset class right now for any feeling of safety.

The difference between a safety line and a safety net is that a safety net (your words) can break one line and still hold a fish. 

Definitely go the legal route here, don't rent out the basement unless you have the OK from the relevant authorities--it's regulated for a reason (fire safety, carbon monoxide poisoning, etc.) and your insurance will not have your back if something goes wrong.

He has no safety net so I don't think its wise to take the risk because if he did a deal, lost disability and then since hes brand new to REI lets say it takes a while until he gets his next deal I just want to help advise him best!

For the most part its just health and safety items, which are items we should have remedied anyways.As someone else mentioned, biggest thing to avoid is having the house tagged as vacant which the city will do if it sits empty for too long (handful of months, grass not cut, etc).

I really like most of my tenants and I would never want them to feel threatened or to feel that I view them as a threat to my safety (if I felt that way, I wouldn't have rented to them.)