Although 220 square feet isn't a great living environment and certainly not one I would want to be forced to live in long term, I don't think it's unlivable especially if you're only "living" there when you're not at work or school. I live in England and space is quite expensive here if you want to have quality too, for example I pay $2500 per month for ~<600 square feet apartment, an apartment I was looking at in London was ~$4200 per month for 800 square feet (it was a high quality residence). America is very spoiled with space, it would be impossible for me to get a 1500 square foot apartment anywhere in England unless I was willing to live in the middle of nowhere (the only apartment I found this big was 20 miles from the nearest city in a questionable area).

The issue may be that this will raise prices of bigger apartments, but if they're reasonably priced ($1000 per month?) I can't see how this is a big problem. For someone that spends all day inside they might not be ideal, but someone who treats their apartment as their "base" for sleeping and eating and nothing more it shouldn't be a problem.