What do you do about living in a dump?

so if you live in a dump where they refuse to (properly) fix the many things wrong with your apartment or just not fix it at all, who do you complain to? and complaining to the landlord or his/her boss id futile, because all they do is say "they're working on it" and nothing comes of it, or depending on their mood, "that's not our problem" or "call the police"! obviously i'm scrounging up money to get out of this hole, but isn't there anything i can do until then to upgrade my living conditions? no wait i'm not looking for an upgrade, i want to be living here the way it was when i first moved in. it just degraded more and more and more... anyone have advice??