I got a degree in EE in the mid 80s, but, sad to say, that biz is shrinking, especially on the hardware side. 

The amount of agents willing to work with you is overwhelming but that number shrinks drastically when you eliminate agents who work with traditional buyers.

I would look at Centris stats for information on the market (demographics growth/shrinking, ownership, average age, etc.) for any red flags for rental.

Will the gap widen further, or shrink with the wider distribution of higher-paying jobs?

A common prediction going around in 2020 is that we are almost guaranteed a recession in the next year or two due to the large amount of government stimulus, record high unemployment, large number of bankruptcies, shrinking GDP, etc., etc.

Typically, when we want to learn about how to diversify our assets, the information provided through general research is on how to diversify your overall portfolio that includes public investments, such as stocks and bonds, as well as private investments, such as private equity funds and real estate.The problem with public markets, however, is that they’re shrinking.

It doesn't matter if you raise the taxes to 100% if the pie is shrinking every year, you will run out of other peoples money at some point.

I think noticeably shrink your tenant pool with either of those things.

Considering that anyone who can afford $1500/month in rent can easily afford a $130k house, you're tenant pool will shrink even more. 

All that would happen with a UBI in the US is that the oligarchs would continue to be bailed out and get tax breaks while the ever-shrinking middle class would be footing the bill for all of it.