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> What about the people owning homes as investments, or as part of their retirement plans?

Housing as an investment does not benefit society.

A significant percentage of people are not financially stable enough to buy a home and pay a monthly mortgage on time for 15-30 years. But they are able to rent.

You're assuming current prices in a distorted market. Since the distortions of regulation for various reasons can't (and including safety distortions, shouldn't) be removed, they should instead be managed.

There simply isn't enough housing within the economic zone that jobs exist in; this needs to be fixed.

It's such a bizarre state of affairs in modern capitalist societies. These sorts of supply shortfalls are fixed in no time for every other type of product or service. Yet housing is that one thing which has so many vested interests throughout the population.

If any other basic need rose so much above inflation no one would consider it a positive for society.

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