system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
You have a place to live.  Buying a home requires up-front capital, which many don't have.  Others may also have more itinerant lives which require moving every few years.
You're right on about it often being economically wiser in many situations.  But while we're renting a house while preparing to buy our next one, it's nice to not worry about maintenance, landscaping, city fees and services, cleaning gutters, and the enormous work our manager had to do in the backyard to stop our garage from flooding.
gpt
That still sounds like landlords are at best bandaid solution over the real problem, which is a lack of access to capital, or perhaps even the necessity of capital to obtain housing.

I'd much rather just have a place to live, where I need to live, no strings attached, and I can't help but feel landlords can only exist by taking advantage of the fact that our economic system does not permit me that option.