> we turned housing into a retirement scheme

It wasn't turned into a scheme by anyone, it's the nature of land. See Ricardo's Law of Rent; owners of land are able to extract rent from the tenants, and in desirable locations they can extract larger amounts of rent. If you want to make money without doing any work, buy land in desirable, growing locations and rent it out.

The solution is a land value tax, accompanied with a citizen's dividend or a reduction in other taxes such as income taxes.