It's certainly true that calculating imputed rent can be tricky and is probably subject to some error. However that does not make is meaningless.
Let’s say it has (my guess of my particular case) a 30% error. What happens to CPI if the weighted average of housing is off by 30%? Assuming housing is a third of CPI, that puts CPI up to 10%.
Look, I’m actually looking to buy a home out in the country and remote work from there. I’m actually living the problem of “should I sell my home or rent it out?” It’s not a survey question, that’s for sure!