The different reactions from soon to be ex-residents are worth noting. It's certainly a problem we have in the US. It seems a sure thing that the apartments are

The different reactions from soon to be ex-residents are worth noting. It's certainly a problem we have in the US. It seems a sure thing that the apartments are quite dingy and faulty plumbing would be frustrating. I can't imagine myself living in one now. But five years ago? Absolutely. Wide ranges of age in apartment stock allow for more than one group to live in the same place. For the elderly or the young who have no accumulated wealth, crappy buildings like this can be wonderful. Not every apartment needs to be something a doctor or lawyer would be happy to live in. Plus, if you can get those different demographics living close to one another, you get the huge benefits of varied patterns of life, where people are around during the day and not all trying to use infrastructure and retail only during peak times.