No pathway to homeownership? Only if you insist on buying your dream home in your dream city where everyone of your peers also wants to live. Meanwhile right now I can link you to search results on Zillow showing thousands of starter homes (yes, still very much a thing) for under $100k in most metropolitan areas.

Is the problem that much of this generation thinks they're too good to live in a $100k house in a suburb of KC, St Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Little Rock, Dallas, etc. etc.? Or do they honestly believe this nonsense that there are literally no jobs outside of SF/Boston/NYC/LA/Seattle?

Because what it appears to be from all the evidence is just a lazy excuse to not try.