avestahousing.orgReviews of avestahousing.org

Poor building maintenance in a 2 year old buildimg, the closed air system on the fourth floor is not turned on to punish tenants for opening windows to let the cigarette smoke out after 3 weeks with no air system. It smells terrible, its 90 degrees in the hallway. For people who can't afford an ac, its hotter than that in your apartment.

Rent prices in southern Maine have skyrocketed over the past few years. Many of us who work full time have no choice but to apply for affordable housing because market rate apartments in the Greater Portland area now cost as much as market rate apartments in the Boston area. Avesta has a near monopoly on affordable housing in southern Maine. They know this, and it shows. I have been in this apartment for five years and I'm still waiting for them to fix things I reported five years ago. Every year they do an annual inspection, and they point out the problems and say "How come you didn't report this?" and I say "I DID report it: I reported it last year, and the year before, and the year before that..." but apparently they don't keep records of these things. They write it down on a clipboard, but who knows where it goes after that? There has been a new property manager at my apartment complex every year for the five years I've lived here. They hire people with no property management experience. After one or two years on the job, Avesta promotes them to senior or regional manager. Three or four years on the job, they get promoted to director or VP. No wonder the company is so poorly run. I'm giving them 2 stars because living here is better than being homeless. The fact remains that Avesta knows how desperate we are and they treat us accordingly. In fairness, this isn't only Avesta's fault: it's the fault of market rate landlords who raise their rents so high that no one but the rich can afford them, and it's the fault of local and state politicians who refuse to do anything about high rents and low wages. They create or perpetuate the conditions that allow Avesta to treat us this way.