> When I lived there the place was infested by young people doing tons of drugs and partying in the common areas

The impression I get is that these are living arrangements for people who enjoyed shared accommodation at university and would quite like to continue it. Not so much living without loneliness, but continuing and/or maximising their youthful capacity to live as they'd like. I don't necessarily have a problem with that if it doesn't impinge on others, although it feels a bit like they're just paying to shortcut access to a hedonistic theme park rather than making their own way. It might be a stretch to say this, but there's something slightly Westworld about it.