Or Europe (probably also the US?) during the industrial revolution. Worker housing really is nothing new. I can see the architectural remnants all around me. (The small town I grew up in was connected to the railway in 1863 and got a huge train repair complex. The red brick buildings that provided housing to the workers right next to where that complex used to be are still there today, now just ordinary apartments.)
Yup. My grandparents lived in an apartment owned by the mill my grandma worked at her entire working life. When the mill closed down in the mid-80s the buildings were sold off one by one. They bought the building they were living in, the one my great grandma was living in, and a few others for a great price.
