FWIW Friends had an episode semi-explaining that, IIRC the girls' apartment was rent controlled and was in Monica's aunt's name. Which actually isn't too far o

FWIW Friends had an episode semi-explaining that, IIRC the girls' apartment was rent controlled and was in Monica's aunt's name. Which actually isn't too far off from the situation as it exists today, where tons of people owe their living situations to the fact that their parents or other relatives owned property when it was affordable to buy it. Heck, there are tons of people who say "I'm so lucky I bought my house when I did, I could never afford this place now." We've basically ended up back at a society of landed gentry, and then everyone else is kinda screwed.