My mind goes in multiple directions reading your question. I am not exactly sure who you are referring to that is calling landlords evil.
The first thing I thought of was that Singapore has 80% of the people living in public housing. Many years ago leaders believed if the masses had shelter they could stop worrying about that and put their energy into being productive. Here is a wikipedia If you are interested in it I encourage you to google more about the history and success and failure.
The next thing I thought of is the stereotype that the Jews are the landlords and that landlords are bad people. This Jewish landlord stereotype persists today, especially in Black communities, but not only among Blacks.
If landlords didn’t exist it would be either government owned free housing, or maybe they mean government rental housing? Sometimes people want to rent, not everyone wants to own a house. It would be impossible in America to do away with landlords. It would be like communism, seizing property, there would be a revolt.
A commune sounds nice, but I think there would still be ownership.
Ownership is part of the prosperity of America, we just need to address how expensive it has become in many parts of the country. The high prices of owning is part of what drives up rental prices, but market forces play the biggest role.