George Gershwin nailed it:
“Well, it ain’t necessarily so
Well, it ain’t necessarily so
Dey tells all you chillun
De debble’s a villun,
But it ain’t necessarily so !”
Anonymous haters seem to have proclivities for spreading “mis-truths” – take this anonymous comment for instance:
“blame the high taxes on the number of rental properties in this Boro….i believe probably close to 1,000…..way way too many for a town this size. there are NOT enough TAXPAYING HOMEOWNERS AND RENTERS/TENANTS AREN’T TAXED! IF they are going to keep ALL these rental properties then the VERY LEAST they can do is “CREATE A MANDATORY TAX FOR EVERY RENTER/TENANT OVER THE AGE OF 18. WE pay for all the renters kids to go to our schools. attend school board mtgs. voice your concerns.”
It just isn’t so; here are the numbers from an article in a previous Columbia news, views & reviews post:
“Columbia has too many renters! That’s the problem. Census data does not support that argument. The percentage of multi-unit properties in Columbia are not significantly different from the other larger boroughs in the county. Home ownership – homes that evidently are not rented to ‘renters’ – is not significantly different either.
“The presence of poverty may be part of the issue.”
Columbia news, views & reviews 
And just where does the census bureau get THEIR information? How many rental conversions have happened solely by the Zoning officer? I know personally of at least one because it was 6 doors down from me and I inquired. You know what they say about mice, you see one and there are probably 100 more to be seen.