You misunderstand. This is a matter of standards and not remotely a judgment upon the folks trapped in the situation.
Apartments are, for the most part in the US at least, very poorly regulated such that they are figurative card board boxes and not homes. The serfs, oh sorry Wage Slaves, don't own their accommodations and thus it isn't a their home any more than the person in a cardboard box in a back alley. The construction is barely thicker and certainly no more private than the cardboard box in the back alley. People deserve better.