There's a housing project in my town that's the most depressing place I could imagine living. It's like a cross between Soviet block housing and a minimum security prison: concrete walls, little natural light, and steel doors. The only room in the apartments that have built in lighting is the bathroom since it's required by code.

It's entirely a cost thing: the goal was to make "housing" that requires the minimum in maintenance and repair. To that end they went with "durability is more important that livability" and offloading as much responsibility onto the tenants as possible.