Buying a house is more than an "investment" though: It's achieving the American dream. And while this dream might have been a farce, it's like everything else in that you hear it enough combined with not understanding the economics and policies underlying home ownership and the lie is reality.

And let's not even get to your point about hedges. I don't know many people that can define it let alone consider housing as a hedge.

Basically everyone considers housing as a hedge - homes are expected to grow steadily in value or at the very least not depreciate.

This is not a good policy goal, but the fact is that the wealth of the American middle class is mostly stored in property, and tanking property values would be a disaster for a broad swath of society which otherwise only has long-term retirement accounts to rely on.

They will vote to protect their interests, no matter how badly it screws their kids or contributes to homelessness.

If the house price goes down you don't lose the house. You just end up paying more for it than you could have if the price was lower when you bought it. You are just keeping your promise to pay your mortgage. This whole "unrealized gains need to be compensated" thing is insane. Responsible policymakers would ignore such greedy, self-centered, anti-community sentiments.

Many people have places to live without owning a house. Me for example!

Ah a counter example to a probablistic argument. Whodathunkit

Buying a house is investment. Living in a house you own is consumption.

These are two distinct things that are coupled through life choices. It's a real pity that tax regulations are different just because you make individual life choices.