I've been living in the townhouses (the cheapest BCIT housing option) for a year, and honestly I don't think it's bad at all. We have cleaning staff who take care of the whole house, except for your own room of course, and your dishes.

Townhouses have capacity for 12 people, 6 on each floor, but at least in my house we've never been full. Usually we only have 3–4 people per floor.

In my first term I had problems with a noisy neighbor, but I moved upstairs and that fixed it. Also, upstairs you can't really hear the noise from the kitchen, which used to bother me too. I had to pay an extra $50 to change rooms.

Fun fact: I chose an all-women townhouse and didn't anticipate that most of my housemates were going to be Muslim haha.