The increased security from 2FA comes from using both factors to authenticate to a service. If you are not using both, then it's a single factor authentication

The increased security from 2FA comes from using both factors to authenticate to a service. If you are not using both, then it's a single factor authentication. You still haven't answered the core question: how do you do what you propose (keep strong security and allow easier restoration of an account to the real owner) today?