Au countraire - it the proverbial exception that supports the rule. It is like arguing that slavery was not such a bad thing because one slave owners treated her slaves well. The point is, however, that we note this particular instance of good treatment only because the standard practive was so horrible.
As far as the household v. people issue is concerned - counting households in determining affordability of houses is tautological - you can treat a homeless shelter as a household and thus define the homelessness away with a single stroke of a pen. A better approach is how many people can obtain a housing that is considered standard in a particular society within a reasonably short period of time.
Wojtek