Something that has taken some getting used to for me, is that there seems to be a completely different set of values placed on shelter the further south you go. Especially among what I would consider middle class. I suspect it has more to do with time spent indoors vs. out, and frequency of exposure to weather that drives that ratio, not on an individual level, but as a culture. Even up in the hills here where it's colder, I've often been shocker at the hovels that people wealthier than me live in. But that's just it, most of their living takes place on their boat, in the woods, or in their garden. The house is just a place to sleep or get out of the rain when it gets too heavy.