I doubt that home ownership will recede too much from the standard concept of the 'American Dream,' but we should never forget that we subsidize home ownership in a variety of ways, and not just home any ownership but single family detached home ownership more specifically.
Awhile back someone asked me if they thought it was smart to buy. My basic answer was owning your own home is a good idea if you want the freedom to do what you want in it, you think having a forced but highly illiquid savings vehicle might be useful for you, and, most importantly, you think you might, at some point, be priced out of an area where you want to live due to rising home prices. Home prices nationally generally go up at the rate of inflation, but some locations with specific amenities which are in relative short supply and hard to replicate (quality urban hellholes, nice beach towns or other resorts) might go up faster as growing income/growing population lead to the bidding up the price of the scarce good.
I bought in Philly in part because I like it here and worried that, long term, I might be priced out of the nicer parts of the city. That might not have been the right bet, but it was a big part of my motivation.
