A big picture case study might help, as we could see where all your debts/ money goes each month and make recommendations, but given what you said, a few red flags popped up that we can address.
First - "wasting money on rent" is a common misconception. While it's true you pay to rent, and that money is gone forever, buying a home is not a magic bullet. When you buy a home, you pay closing costs. From there, you pay mortgage interest and property taxes, and you pay for hazard insurance. In your case, where it does not sound like you've saved up a 20% down payment, you'd also pay a pretty exorbitant PMI (private mortgage insurance) payment. Then you'll also pay for maintenance of the house (paint, roof, appliances, mowing, shovels, rakes, etc.) All of this is money that is "gone forever" just like your rent. In a lot of cases, it's more money than you were paying for rent, and you're actually worse off.
Second - what do you consider an "emergency?" Ideally, you'd actually take some of that money and create a bit of an emergency fund for yourself. But it should really only be used for
emergencies. Not to buy things or pay back debt for things you bought. If you don't have a pretty stable handle on the money in your bank account, then perhaps the safest place for this money you're getting would, in fact, be that guaranteed 5% return on investment you'd get by paying off your student loan. (And no doubt that payment is a big drag on your overall budget right now.)
If you really do want to own a home, there are ways to calculate which is better in your area, but the important thing is to remember that you want to buy a home to save money. That means - buy a home comparable to what you're renting. The tendency is buy "a lot more" but you end up increasing your monthly costs over renting that way. This is a pretty nice calculator for that purpose:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html?_r=0
