A great start! Now let's also cut back on parking minimums and setback bylaws to make nicer spaces that people actually want to live in, rather than townhouses masquerading as a single mansion
As someone who lived in a few houses and now rent an apartment, when well done it is not bad at all. I don't hear my neighbours ever and my building is a renovated house, not even a new build with modern sound proofing. My location lets me walk to nearly everything I need, including the main bus terminal in my city. If you asked me 5 years ago I'd have said I could never live in an apartment and now it is one of my favourite places I've lived.
I think that really is the ideal, for a lot of reasons. It's better for the environment, it saves a lot of money overall, it's better for mental and physical health, it really is the best way to go. However, I get why many people don't like the idea of giving sometimes as much as half of their paycheck, or maybe even more, to some landlord. Luckily, there's a solution for that, too: not-for-profit housing organizations. They're essentially just like regular landlords, except instead of charging a market rent they just charge enough rent to cover all their costs, and that's it.
We could also design and build building where is is possible to own a part of it. Might have to pay a monthly fee for maintaince of things like roofs, entrances or exterior walls. If it is possible to split and own row houses/townhouses, it should be possible for apartments as well.
In my apartment building they ripped out the carpeting and padding of the unit above me. I couldn't hear the residents that lived above me at all when there was carpet, but these new neighbors are making lots of footfall noises with the hard floors. It's close to a nightly basis with them. Their footfalls will keep me awake past 11 pm.