> If you have a mortgage and are hit by a catastrophic life event that leaves you without a job and depleted of your emergency fund, your home is gone.

That risk exists regardless of whether you rent or own.

The risks he mentioned are unique to rentals. It's very common for leases to essentially say "We can kick you out if we feel like it," no justification necessary. Even if the lease stipulates some justification, they'll find a way around it ("Our maintenance crew noted your excessive noise on 37 separate occasions. You also have a wreath hanging on your door, which is another violation of the lease.").

It's extremely rare for a mortgage to contain any sort of terms that allow you to be arbitrarily kicked out of your home.

The mortgage might be more secure, but an HOA can turn your life upside down if it's run by power-hungry busybodies and they can destroy the property values of the whole neighborhood while they're at it.

I've lived in several HOAs in the past, and yeah, they can be a pain. But in my experience, they are mostly concerned with not destroying the property values. In practice, they're only interested in stuff that's egregiously stupid. (Say that crazy old lady with the weird, creepy Halloween decorations including the beheaded baby that stay out from Labor Day to New Years.)

Plus, it's easy enough to avoid HOAs.

If you stop paying rent your ass is on the street in days.

Stop paying your mortgage and it can be months or years.

It takes at least 60 days in most areas of the US to evict a tenant.