First of all, you should know that Cambridge Square of Hialeah changed owners a few years back and was renamed Hialeah Housing.

Second, I am 19 years old, and I lived in these apartments for about 17 of those 19 years. Being a kid, I didn't really see anything wrong with the place, and I didn't have a choice of whether or not I wanted to live there.

Now, on with the review. This apartment complex is made up of 5 buildings, each with 4 floors. The place is surrounded my other, most likely better apartment complexes, there are several supermarkets in the area, a large park not even a block away and Westland Mall is about 3 blocks away.

Overall, the location is decent. Unfortunately, the area has seen an increase of gang activity in the recent years, and with no security to speak of, this can only mean trouble. I knew several people first hand whose parent's had been mugged, one of them at gunpoint. Many of the kids and young adults have a "delinquent" aura to them, so much so that my mother usually forbade me from going outside. The complex is fenced, but by the time I moved out, they still hadn't installed gates of any kind, so people could walk in and out as they pleased.

The service is horrible. I remember my mother constantly arguing with the management, because they would never get anything done. And boy, did alot need to get done. The air conditioner broke at least once a month, and it was common for us to wait up to a month for Maintenance to come fix it, sometimes longer. The toilet was broken, and my mother had to construct a make-shift flusher by tieing a hanger to the chain inside, and they never fixed it. The kitchen light never worked, everytime it rained even a little my room would get flooded, sometimes the power would go out for several hours (granted, this might not be their fault, but we've never had this problem in our current apartment that's only about 15 block away). Maintenance always seemed to be on lunch break, even if it was 4:00 in the afternoon.

The apartments themselves aren't all that impressive. The walls are very thin, and you can often hear your neighbors arguing or playing music (thankfully, I never heard anyone having sex, maybe because of the large number of elderly people that are tenants). There's no balcony, and the windows are very small and usually rusted shut. The rooms feel cramped, the closets are also rusted shut and the kitchen is barely big enough for 2 people. Even upon exiting the apartment, there's a sense of claustrophobia, since the all the doors are separated by a very narrow indoor hallway with no sunlight. The elevator and stairs are very small, so I imagine moving large furniture around can be a headache (I was too young to remember when we moved in). Also, the elevator is a deathtrap, and is out of service most of the time. There's a very large cockroach problem, and on occasion a mouse might show up, but luckily a fumigator comes by on a regular basis. The screens on the windows break very easily, and are likely to never be replaced. The laundry rooms aren't all that bad. There's one on each floor but they are extremely cramped, have no air conditioning and the door can sometimes get stuck. They brought in fancy new washers and dryers that used smartcard technology about a year before we moved, so I guess that's good. Pets are allowed, just watch where you walk.

Outside, the atmosphere is kind of nice. There's alot of grass and trees, separated by cement sidewalks that are cleaned every now and then. There is ample parking, but you are not assigned a parking space, so you just take what you can find. If you're lucky, you'll find an empty spot right near the entrance to your building, if not you'll have to settle for a faraway spot near the dumpster. Recreation is non-existant. There's no pool, but there used to be a basketball court that was basically a big slab of cement with a park bench and one basketball hoop, although they took the bench and hoop away before I moved. There's a little kiddy playground with sand, a slide, monkeybars and swings. Alas, I was told by a friend that after we moved, they took those out too. Even with the basketball court and playground, most kids entertained themselves by playing in the grass and generally preforming mischeif.

So in the end, if you really want an apartment in this area, you should look at one of the other complex's nearby. There are condos, townhouses and other apartments. I doubt there's much difference in prices, and I'm sure the service at least won't be as bad. Then again, you can't be picky in Hialeah.

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