I think you are potentially causing harm to the legalization movement by growing illegally. I go as far as to suggest that you are helping the prohibitionists by continuing to live in a place where you can't get at least some legal right to cultivate. Yeah, maybe you will say that's not a choice, but I'd be putting every resource into getting out of there -- or at the very least, getting out of the shared living space, and not just because of weed or whatever.
As for the smell. Even with a legal grow in a detached single-family home in a neighborhood with very little foot traffic, and did I mention a grow that I have a license for, even then, I'm worried enough about the smell during flowering that I go to some pretty long lengths to keep it private. I can't imagine doing an illegal grow, just because it's so incredibly difficult to keep the smell contained. Worse, you get very used to it, and what you won't notice after a few weeks, is blindingly obvious to others who are not desensitized.