Fun fact before Julius Caesar froze the rent in Rome for a year, it was actually getting to the point of abject absurdity to the point folks were splitting rent 4 ways minimum in some neighborhoods. Must've been able to smell the gayness apon stepping foot into that city, maybe that's why Caesar crossed the Rubicon he wanted to get rid of the smell.

To be clear, I was most echoing and agreeing with you, and I just had a sudden mental image of the world's least subtle gal-pal-lesbian that I wanted to put out there.

And yeah, my "recent" is a pretty long horizon. It was in roughly the 1700s that we started to see people living less in arrangements that we would be willing to call "roommates" in the west. Largely driven by factors relating to industrialization making it so people who lived in proximity were less likely to work in proximity, and making it more feasible to sustain and manage redundant living situations. It was still common though, since the financial perks hit unevenly. Increasing urbanization pushed towards denser living, while doing more to move families into private housing. Hence the apartment with 40 steelworkers in bunk beds image, and the apartment next door with a pair of siblings, their spouses and children and maybe a grandparent.
This trend continues across a lot of cultures, although the specific arrangements vary. Industrialization being the turning point. Although the soviets had a more unique twist as a result of picking up entire rural communities and dropping them in low cost buildings. You get a lot of the communal living type arrangements we saw through history but stuck in an oddly modern setting, with maybe two unrelated families, a handful of singles and a few couples all sharing an apartment with one kitchen, a complicated bathroom and a bedroom breakdown roughly what we'd expect now.

One way or another, people throughout history have tended to want to live near family, which included friends, liked having a roof, and usually didn't bother building more cooking tools than they needed. The specific forms have changed, but the social nature of humans is pretty consistent.

In 2000, you were 7 years old and had no clue what anyone was paying for rent, much less how cool was open mic night at the local. Your parents could afford to do things and shielded you from what they cost. Or sitcom families could do things and you're remembering Will & Grace.

I mean, yes: shit's expensive today, but heterosexual people had roommates in 2000, in 1990, 1980, even in 1960. In 1980, it was scandalous to have a roommate of the opposite gender.

I know I work my ass off yet can't afford to do much