if i was managing a property and seeking to rent a place for $1300, and somebody filled out an application for it with an income of $3000, i would tell them their income is too high to rent the apartment and that i'm looking for somebody that makes under $2000/month for $1300/rent.

the reason is that the only conceivable reason that somebody with an income over $2000 would be looking for such a cheap apartment is if they spend $1000/month on drugs, and i don't want drug addicts on my property.

by screening in tenants that make more than they need for a low income apartment, which today is under $1500, landlords are just screening in drug addicts.

a good manager should realize that, and refuse to rent to somebody at less than 50% of their income. the way that landlords currently do this is backwards - instead of saying rent should be less than 50% of income, landlords should be screening out people that want to pay less than 50% and only renting to people that want to pay more than 50% of their income in rent, in order to ensure they aren't renting to drunks, potheads and addicts.

a sober, responsible person will want to spend at least 50% of their income on rent, because what else would they spend it on, besides drugs?