Rents only go up if more people want to live somewhere or can afford more to live there - or, maybe short-term, if the government levies more taxes.

If you make everywhere nice, then you don't need to pay a premium to live somewhere nice.

Maybe you have to pay a miniscule amount more in property taxes.

You could just stop running trash & sewer service and let the city turn to garbage if you want lower rents. I don't think that's what people want. They want somewhere nice to live.

You can't have your cake and eat it, too.