I’ve lived in some pretty crappy apartments before out of necessity, and the conditions don’t typically get me down too much because I’m aware that I’m paying little and receiving little. I’ve resided in places that didn’t have functioning door locks, where the lights flickered 24/7, and where the water was disputably safe to drink, but I had never lived in worse conditions than the place I rented on Green Street. The apartment only cost $200 a month, and it was for good reason. The walls were dirty and thin, the windows were drafty, and the neighbors were definitely up to some recreational pill popping all day, every day. However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the unreliable HVAC unit. I swear to you, it didn’t matter if I was trying to use the central heating or cooling, because neither worked. No matter what temperature I set the thermostat to, I would come home and find that the apartment was freezing cold or blazing hot. I tried contacting the landlord and asking for HVAC service to repair the air conditioner and furnace, but he ignored all of my calls and eventually forwarded my number straight to voicemail. I even tried to file a complaint with the renters union, but my pleas for adequate temperature control went unheard. Totally broke, I continued to live in the extreme discomfort of unpredictable heating and cooling until the lease ran its course, but every single day there was total misery. I’ll take the roaches and druggie neighbors, but I will never live without proper heating and cooling again.