There are 2 Paris’s.
The one the tourists see, the Louvre and Eiffel tower.
Then there is the grimy city that the residents have to live in with tiny expensive old apartments that are falling apart.
Or you live outside town and try to commute very expensively.
Then you look on the Internet and look and see what other people are doing with their disposable income when you have none and it’s about to become even less.
Or at happy tourists that snap their pictures and leave.
“tiny expensive old apartments that are falling apart”
I think you have found the key.
A lot of Europe has residential issues as repairs had to take a back seat to taxes.
In many cases, this can be shocking.
The typical kitchen was renovated, somewhat, sometime after 1945.