Flats of not?

They tell us that we need 10,000,000 one-to-two bed roomed units and 6,000,000 family homes. What we actually have is 6,000,000 flats and 10,000,000 family homes. I met someone today who is vehemently against the number of flats being built.
“They will be tomorrow’s slums.”
Well, yes there will always be properties which are the oldest, least desirable.
“Everywhere is ‘buy-to-let’ properties. People don’t care.”
Hmm.
I’m currently living in a “buy-to-let”. I own seven others. I have a family home in Hampshire. I work in Manchester – Salford to be precise. It’s not an unusual pattern, these days. Many youngsters, anyway, have a portfolio career and are frequently on the move. Renting then can be the best solution. They can move easily. Another advantage I’ve found is that you phone the letting agency and tell them the plumbing’s not working and when you get home that evening, it’s all fixed.
There is a downside accompanied by an irony: young people who can’t afford to buy have to rent and rents are actually higher than mortgage payments on the same properties. I also might try to find somewhere to buy for that very reason. I can always rent it out later.
There is a sadness too. The “Coronation Street” terrace, the back-to-back, is gradually being cleared away by the developers. We mourn that in Leeds and Salford alike. Perhaps we should preserve those –modernise them, maybe. They serve the same purpose as the flats, after all.