Not everyone who is a landlord is born into wealth. Someone born into poverty can also be a landlord.
By your logic, grocery stores are the same. They don't grow the food. They don't invent new food. There's nothing wrong with grocery stores either.
The main reason landlords are hated is jealousy. People hate those who have something they don't. Especially when landlords worked for what they have and the ones who are jealous didn't -- they want to be handed things for free without contributing. Look at the old parable of the ant and the grasshopper.
The reason why this requirement is used is to attempt to avoid eviction down the line. Someone needs to prove they have the means to fulfill the contract they're entering into.
There's 41 houses/duplexes for sale in my city at or under $50k. The lowest are listed at $5,000 but someone could probably buy it for less. The city also provides $20,000 in money to fix up any of the houses they own.
Small 2 bedroom houses under 1000 sqft, even newly renovated, don't sell as well as 3 bedroom houses at least 1500 sqft. This is reality. People have more "stuff" than they used to and that "stuff" requires a larger amount of square footage.
According to what actually sells the quickest, it's houses between 1500 and 2000 square feet. The median size of homes across the United States is 2,014 square feet.
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