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Sometimes when people are enumerating the good and bad aspects of something, the same thing comes up in both the pros and cons. For example, a certain policy may be considered good because it benefits the rich; however, this same policy may also be considered bad because it benefits the rich.
What word or phrase refers to such a situation?
You can argue such a situation (or policy) both ways.
There is more than one way of looking at it.
The outcome could go either way.
It might be a compromise decision or policy that could lead to unintended consequences.
The decision rests on a value judgment.
One term that is sometimes used is "mixed blessing."
The most obvious one to me would be...
A situation or course of action having both positive and negative effects
Equilibrium
a state in which opposing forces or actions are balanced so that one is not stronger or greater than the other Merriam-Webster
After a lot of consideration I've decided to post this as I honestly can't think of anything else that'd be a better fit. However I still don't feel like this hits the mark.
It succeeds at expressing that there are opposing forces (ergo, a pro and a con) but fails to convey that they are in conflict over the same issue and unfortunately implies that that both sides have an equally strong argument/case.
If you feel that something has both positive and negative aspects then you have ambivalent feelings about it.
Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone:
some loved her, some hated her, few were ambivalent about her
an ambivalent attitude to Europe
To say that councillors are ambivalent about the idea is an understatement.
Those sentiments are a far cry from her early years when she had an altogether more ambivalent attitude towards her singing.
In practice, we have managed to do better than our ambivalent attitudes suggest.
If something is open to more than one interpretation then the adjective equivocal is more appropriate.
Open to more than one interpretation; ambiguous:
If something is partly good and partly bad then it is a "double-edged sword"; it "cuts both ways".
Macmillan: Partly good and partly bad
It might be simplest to just say that the thing has "both good and bad aspects". Then you can go on to talk in detail about what they are and what's good/bad about them.
That would be: an equivocal policy, in my opinion. A policy should be clear regarding who benefits from it.
