Extreme concentrations of wealth lead to apathy and, eventually, extreme discontent. Given enough time, a society's resources become concentrated in an increasingly small number of people. This occurrence has been compounded in the modern era by the creation of business entities, trusts, and other legal "persons" that exist indefinitely. Life has always been unfair, and young adults have always been at an economic disadvantage, but there have been significant legal and economic changes in the last 40 years. Many young people feel like they're joining a Monopoly game that's already halfway done, and that game is no fun when there's no property to buy, and nothing to do except pay rent and go to jail.

We no longer have a Western frontier. For more than a century, the American West offered the entire world low-cost land and economic opportunity - and that Western ideal is still very much a part of American culture. When you went to BYU-H, there were still people alive who had literally homesteaded on free land in the American West. That wasn't an option for your generation, but it was something in the nation's recent past - and that isn't true for people entering the workforce today. Cheap land doesn't really exist anymore, and economic opportunity has shifted (the cheap land that is available is typically located far from any significant economic opportunity). Jobs are increasingly located in high COL areas and our economy has moved to a model that makes rural living infeasible for most (our society lacks the skills necessary for people to hack it as farmers/ranchers; our factories have been moved offshore, and remaining jobs are located in major metro areas).

Housing is a necessity. Much as people accept and welcome government intervention in the provision of potable water at cost, there are some who think that, as housing supply becomes more constrained, there should be regulations on the ability of private forces to capture the housing market.

I'm sympathetic to your experiences and viewpoints - and I have similar frustrations when I hear people advocate for increased taxes on those in higher income brackets (it's manifestly unjust - it's the people who goofed off in high school and never planned for their futures, punitively taking money from the hard-working folks who missed every party and social function in high school, college, and graduate school so that they could make something of themselves).

But I think that housing is more than an economic issue and might warrant some regulation. For example, I'm incredibly uncomfortable with:

• the existence of REITs and other institutional investors that can raise money on a massive scale, borrow money at interest rates below those available to everyday Americans, and buy properties in quantites that directly impact local economies and real estate markets
• the ability of foreign entities to do the things listed above (it's bad enough to get hosed by an American company, with American investors - but why are we allowing the Chinese or even the British or Canadians to do this to us?)
• the increasing popularity of purchasing single-family homes with the intent to rent them and create a passive income stream (it's increasingly common for Grandma and Grandpa, or even Mom and Dad, to decide to buy a second home and rent it out to make a ~$2k a month)
• the leverage of legal persons (trusts, LLCs, etc.) to perpetuate the rental of single-family homes beyond the natural lives of their owners (when Grandma and Grandpa die, the kids don't sell the house anymore; they rent it, and frequently use the proceeds to make payments on an additional rental property)

Without taking anything away from your experiences and the justly-received fruits of your labors, can you see how young people today might be rightly concerned about the way that properties are being purchased and consolidated, with a reduced likelihood of re-entering the market?