What the article misses is that home ownership via a 30 year fixed rate mortgage is a form of forced savings. Forced savings are important in a society where most people have great trouble disciplining themselves to save and invest.
Presuming the owner doesn't repeatedly refinance to take out equity, paying off a mortgage is a way of accumulating savings. At retirement the household has a nest egg to provide rent-free housing, to draw down via a reverse mortgage, or to sell.
For many people their home will be the only nest egg they have. If they rent, they'll have nothing. While not economically optimal, something (in the form of a paid-for home) is much better than nothing; better for the home owner and better for our society.
