I don’t see an intrinsic problem with landlords. In the ideal situation, they provide a service. People can rent a housing unit with a low commitment attached. There are serious downsides to ownership like the amount of concentration of a household’s wealth in a single asset, upkeep, and being tied to a given unit for a long period of time. It’s only when landlords aren’t providing appropriate value to tenants or are being abusive that I see a real issue.

how about creating jobs in those depopulated areas

More easily said than done. There are usually reasons those areas have trouble. Creating jobs is rarely a matter of waving some magic wand. There are efforts to get jobs into those areas for sure, but they’re often unsuccessful. Sometimes it really is better to let an area die instead of spending a bunch of money trying to get people to move to an unproductive area.

Or maybe, since it’s so big difference, just giving the homes to people?

Some of those homes literally are just going for a pittance, something like a dollar. Clearly there’s something else going on. So why not just transfer ownership? Well, residing in a home is about more than just owning a structure. There’s sewer, water, waste management, maintenance, and so on. Also, many homeless people have at least one mental illness, either as the cause of their homelessness or acquired while homeless, so they need mental health resources. An area that is experiencing depopulation is unlikely to have that care available.

A housing first approach near appropriate services is designed to help provide the stability they need and stronger connections with services. A door that locks and some privacy goes a long way. Uprooting them and chucking them in some godforsaken town is not a real solution.