Flippanarchy

Khrushchyovki were built starting in the 1950s, in a country that 20 years prior had a 90% of starved, uneducated peasant agrarian population. They were kinda small (not smaller than what people in Madrid rent nowadays for 10 times the price though), but they literally had to build a country from scratch: there had been no modern housing prior. England or Germany had a healthy 150 years of industrialization + urbanization at that point, the Soviets had 20 years.

For most of the history of the USSR, they were building the largest amount of housing of any planet on Earth, smaller housing was preferable to no housing. They literally couldn't build more, the country ran on full employment, building more housing would have meant reduced doctors, teachers, factory workers or farmers.

That housing only looks depressing because it's been ran down after 35 years of negligence in capitalism. As they say, "what communism built capitalism can't even paint". The pictures are also often taken in winter with the dead trees and grey dark days.

That doesn't look sad or depressing at all to me

I fully agree that with modern technology we could do absolute wonders and magnificent housing.

GDP is such bs.

Our city council, and many city councils, work with big landlord corporations to maintain a certain amount of empty houses. A big component of this is YIMBYs in our city who would push their own children in front of a moving bus if it meant a big developer doesn't pay taxes to build "luxury" apartments in gentrified neighborhoods. Said apartments are required to offer a certain number of "affordable" units son the poors can have a taste of the good life, only $2500 per month for a family of 3 making up to 26k per year, on a single bare unit in a mid sized Midwest city, but don't try to use the front door or the gym.

You get what I'm saying? The affordable housing rules are what keeps these units empty, floating the value of the other units. When distributed city wide, it's a scheme to keep rents high, while the companies building the new buildings don't pay taxes for 25 years.

All the while, touting affordable options to families in need. A couple years ago our city received $14M from the state to provide affordable housing, and gave $11M of it back a year later. And all the while, the only housing people can afford, gets worse and worse.