In some countries with less of a housing crisis than ours, it's the opposite. If you buy a house to occupy, you pay a large VAT. If you buy a house to let, you don't. Fetishizing owner-occupancy is the root cause of the American housing crisis. We need to get over the weird belief that something about living in a house you own is morally superior.
I'm not talking (just) about the USA.
In my buble people often hoard properties to let but many just hoard them because they can and taxes are (too) low.
Someone has an advantage in income, access to financing, reaches a threshold and 10 years later they flip 10 houses, all payed by not so fortunate tenants, and the owner thinks he's some kind of rightous capitalist.
The whole rent-seeking behavior is a scourge on society.
