Improve Apartment Building Standards

We are never going to convince people to live more densely if we don't do something about the terrible building standards for multi-unit housing.

I'm trapped in a lease for the next five months, all the while ready to move to a place where I don't have to engage in synchronized toileting with my upstairs neighbor, gaslighting myself into believing the distinct horse-piss sound of a grown adult male is not what I’m hearing.

Why do moderate-income, busy people like myself feel so desperate to buy single family housing when by all accounts, we should be content in apartment, condo or townhouse living? I'm a working professional and a single mom/caregiver of a disabled adult. Do you know what I don't want to spend my weekends and extra money on? Homeowner maintenance requirements. Lawn care. Cleaning gutters. Emergency replacement of XYZ appliance that craps out without warning. I've done the home ownership deal and I know firsthand what a life and money sink it really is. All I want now is a safe, comfortable place to live.

But I'm having to consider SFH (single family housing) because I need quiet. I cannot handle hearing someone walking around overhead. I will lose my mind if I have to listen to the neighbor's television, radio, or conversation chatter. Not everyone is built to handle extraneous noises from outside the home, and nor should we have to, not with the technology, skills, and building materials available to us today.

If we expect people like me to consider multi-unit dwelling and denser housing, we need to do something about poor building standards. As it is now, if my only option is between luxury apartments that might offer these benefits at an exorbitant monthly rate or SFH with a commute, I'm finding it hard to justify maxing out my budget for the basics.