You're right, but ultimately, this just points to apartment living being basically a hack that is only acceptable for the poor, and some very specific prestige

You're right, but ultimately, this just points to apartment living being basically a hack that is only acceptable for the poor, and some very specific prestige situations (e.g. the alpha cities; a flat in London is 'special' because it's London; a flat in Leeds is just crap). It strikes me as being another one of these 'let's make the life of the poor better' type situations, where you assume the continuation of strong class boundaries. A person should be able to modify their living environment as they choose within reason. Plugging in a car or plumbing in a washing machine is such a basic adjustment that really should never be an issue. It becomes such because we have this whole class-based nonsense of tons of people being serfs to a hamster wheel of landlords or whatever.