Since Rachel was always complaining that she has no privacy because their were too many people in the house couden't harriet and carl and mother winslow lend her the money to buy her a apartment since she did not have a job in season 1, i mean mother winslow did lend her the cash to start her own restaurant in season two after clumsy cluts steve burned down leroy's place.

Well Harriette mentioned that Carl wanted Rachel living with them so she wouldn't be all alone taking care of her son. I don't recall Rachel complaining. It was her idea to get a job to earn money for the family. After helping her open a business why would they need to help her buy an apartment? She could have afforded one with her profits.

Yeah she eventually moved out of the winslow's house in later seasons but one thing that does not make since why was Richie still staying with the winslow's i figure with her gone he would have went to, its funny then they brought in another kid 3J to be Richie's best friend.