Rent, Leases, ownership and Landlords!

Back to square one, looking for an apartment.
I can't figure it out.  The landlord refused to renew out one year lease because we complained about mice and lead paint on the stairs and items they'd promised, doors to make the 3rd bedroom.  This was despite paying $4000 a month on time.
Then, if we go to court, you get black listed as a "problem renter" for 10 years.  It's all a nightmare, one I keep on thinking, how did we get into this? What part did I play?  Jordan never complained before, but then she was a single person who could survive by picking up a meal, taking her laundry out,  etc.
Now she has a family, one that requires a lot of wash, a lot of feeding, a lot of energy, and a lot of safety. That is Gigi and Tess, now 2 years old.
 She is no longer single, and she has a mother with Parkinson's.  Sometimes I am in fear, my body doesn't move, and when the lease wasn't renewed I got into fear.
A locksmith came by to change our locks.  We got to talking and he said "do you know of another job I could get?" It was his own business but he said he was highly stressed.  I didn't know what he could do, but I did know there is spiritual help for our problems, and that to be stressed and feel in fear is pointless. We are special and have a right to be.
Just like we have a right to pay our rent and expect some cooperation from the "landlord".  As far as I am concerned, the only difference between ownership and renting is the owner puts a down payment down to get their "long lease"-maybe 15-20 years to pay it back, which is seldom done.
But in England, where there was "Lords" you never owned the land. There may be a house on it, but every 50-100-1000 years the lease has to be renewed at "present day prices".  The "Lord" can lord over you there power.  That's why we had the American Revolution!