Purely as an anecdote, I personally know a family in the Inland Empire/LA county area who have been renting for the past 20 years, in various suburbs of LA. I have known them for 20 years, one is a college professor, the other a teacher, and I suspect they could have afforded to buy something at any time during those twenty years (perhaps a townhouse/condo intially), but they apparently always found it more affordable to rent something slightly bigger than they could afford to buy. Whatever the reasons, in the past twenty years, I know for a fact they have lived in only three rented, detached single-family homes.
Now I’m not even pretending to promote renting vs. buying especially over a period of 20 years, in fact if I was in their position I suspect I would have bought a place 10 or 15 years ago, but I’m simply presenting one anecdotal case of a family who raised two successful college-educated kids, maintained a very comfortable lifestyle, always lived in a detached 4-bedroom home, and didn’t have to move all that much over twenty years, all the while renting all those years. Now, they’ve purchased two homes in Houston, both rented out I think, and one will be there retirement home in 5 or so years.
Simply, there are many paths to lifestyle fullfilment, yes some bring more profit than others, but home-ownership doesn’t necessarily always, everytime, equal bliss, you can find contentment without owning as well, it would seem.
(Having said that I personally would rather buy when it makes sense, if I can afford it, have down-payment, and rent-vs-buy is about equal).