In the first photo you see each apartment has a little balcony, and in the second you can tell that the complex starts from a main road. Most people probably worked in factories not too distant from here, and road the street car or tram into work. Those factories are mostly gone now, as they could not compete in the West. Unemployment in former East Germany is very bad -- nearly 20%, and if the state wasn't supporting jobs that wouldn't exist in a free market it could be as high as 50%. They can't keep that support up indefinitely, but realize that such massive unemployment would lead to political instability. The problem is making a transition from a communist system to one competitive with the West is costly and takes time. Originally many thought the free market would simply do it magically, but it didn't take long for them to realize that in the real world economic theory doesn't work like it does in books, markets are not magic and they are not perfect. The transition is going well, but takes time. Still, most of these buildings have had their apartments renovated, have received a new phone system, and changes are real.