Meh, disagree on a lot of what you’ve said 🙂
(1) You can generally suss out the risk of special assessments and rises in HOA fees. Look at the general condition of the complex, the financial condition of the HOA, and check court records for any open litigation. This info is all available to prospective buyers and isn’t hard to find.
(2) HOA fees in a well-run condo pay for a lo.t of stuff that you’ll be paying for anyway in an SFR, like exterior maintenance. Also, the level of HOA fees is reflected in the sale price — condos are cheaper to buy than SFRs for a given level of rent.
(3) Who cares where employment verification comes from? I’ve just asked for 3-4 references from prospective tenants including one from work (co-workers are fine in my book), called them up, and googled them as well as the prospective tenant. It’s very hard to get a few friends to lie consistently, and if the stories didn’t fit, I moved on.

There are also other ways to verify income, like bank statements. I’m self-employed, so I’m sure not going to discriminate against self-employed/small-business folks and students — too much empathy to even consider that.