Some Hudson County Sheriff’s officers were answering a domestic violence call in Jersey City, and encountered bed bugs in the home. (The article claims the officers were bitten by bed bugs upon entering the home.)

What happens next is quite astonishing:

Ten residents of the building - at Wilkinson and Ocean avenues - as well as five sheriff’s officers were quarantined in the two-and-a-half story building while fire officials brought people out to scrub them down in a special shower set up at the scene.

Two men were taken out of the building in handcuffs shortly before noon, even as officers dressed in full hazmat gear with oxygen masks went into the home.

Bed bugs will bite people who enter the home, and may hitch rides out. Donning protective clothing is not a bad idea for avoiding bed bug bites and hitchhiking bugs, if officers are entering a home with an infestation.

Bed bugs do spread.

However, I really do not understand why a “special shower” was necessary, or why the photo accompanying this article show a fully-clothed woman and child being sprayed by something. (Click here to see the photo enlarged.) They are obviously in distress. And I do not see how this is necessary.

If it is necessary to ensure someone’s body is bed bug-free, they could be asked to remove clothing and take a shower– a simple shower with soap and water, and a clean change of clothing, is all that should be needed. (It will, of course, last only until the person re-enters the infested home.)

But spraying them down like they’ve been exposed to toxic chemicals is extreme and inhumane. And probably pointless.

If someone has a bed bug inside his or her pants, I don’t think spraying someone with their clothes on is the best way to kill it.

So the whole experience was pointlessly humiliating. There’s no need to up the stigma of having bed bugs.

I hope officials in Jersey City will do everything they can to make sure people don’t have to live with bed bugs.

Although the officers may have been spared the trouble of bringing bed bugs home, the families in this building were presumably sent back home to live with bed bugs that night. I really hope they’re getting the help they need to get rid of this problem.

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The real problem with this is that it means some folks may not get the bed bug treatment they need, when they need it. And if your neighbor passes up bed bug treatment, it can mean you get bed bugs.

A recent infestation at the Grandview Terrace, a moderate-income building for seniors and those with disabilities in Jersey City, drove this point home: when tenants are asked to pay the costs of bed bug treatment, and can’t afford it, or feel they can’t afford it, they go without. And the bed bugs continue to multiply and spread. And that isn’t good for tenants or landlords.

Some Grandview Terrace residents have had bed bugs for three years. Imagine if that was your grandmother, your disabled brother, or you yourself suffering from bed bug bites for three years straight.

According to the Jersey Journal, some local legislators are determined to change this legal loophole:

Hudson County Democratic Assembly members Joan Quigley and L. Harvey Smith, along with state Sens. Brian Stack and L. Grace Spencer, D-Newark, announced last week that they are preparing legislation for the fall that would make the bedbug buck stop with landlords.

Apparently, at least one Grandview Terrace resident was lobbying lawmakers for such a change:

“I can’t tell you how happy I am,” said Grandview Terrace resident William Dorrity, who began lobbying state and local officials for the legislation after paying $300 for an exterminator. “The only reason (landlords) are getting away with it is because they’re exploiting a loophole in the law.”

On the other hand, I am also sympathetic to landlords who feel they also cannot afford to pay for bed bug treatment. This epidemic hits landlords hard, as well as tenants and homeowners.

The Jersey Journal suggests landlords just want those who are “responsible” for the introduction of bed bugs, or for not cooperating with treatment, to be charged:

Building owners would like to retain the right to charge tenants in certain cases, such as those who reintroduce an infestation or are uncooperative during the extermination process, he said.

This may not sound entirely unreasonable to those who don’t know bed bugs well, but it is extremely difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of a building’s infestation. (It’s part of what we call “the bed bug blame game”.) It isn’t easy to say who introduced or reintroduced bed bugs. But one thing’s for certain: blaming (and charging) the first person to complain about bed bugs means that tenants simply won’t mention the problem, for fear of being the one blamed.

The bottom line is that prompt, thorough treatment is going to cost less than delayed treatment, or treatment which misses some units. Everyone with bed bugs must get swift treatment. Ultimately, if those legally burdened with paying for treatment are unable to pay (whether they’re tenants, landlords, or homeowners), they may need to lobby the government for assistance.

That statement will send our libertarian friends up in arms! However, if as many were afflicted with floods or tornadoes causing costly damage as are currently hit by the bed bug “natural disaster,” surely we’d see some government assistance flooding in.

The Grandview’s William Dorrity and New York vs. Bed Bugs have the right idea: if you need help, tell your elected officials.

If you’re in the States, find your US Senator, US Representatives, Governor, State Senators, and State Representatives with one single click here! Google your mayor and city council. Wherever you are, chances are you can google your way to an email form or phone number for your city, state or provincial, and national lawmakers.

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As noted on our FAQ about who pays for treatment, the New Jersey Warranty of Habitability says landlords have to keep rental apartments pest-free.

However, things can be a bit more complicated than that.

Although the law says NJ landlords have to pay to eliminate bed bugs from rental units, they don’t say landlords can’t then turn around and charge tenants to cover the costs.

This Journal article details an example of this in action: seniors living in low-income housing, the 240-unit Grandview Terrace in Jersey City, are suffering badly from bed bugs, and have been for three years. Fifty units are now known to have them:

The state holds landlords responsible for extermination in “multi-unit” buildings of three or more apartments - if the bugs are found in two or more units or in common areas. But the state doesn’t take a stance as to whether landlord can then turn around and charge the tenants, said Jennifer Monaghan of the state Department of Community Affairs.

One-and two-family buildings are regulated by a different set of laws that can be superseded by municipal law, but in general the rules are the same: the owner is responsible, but has the right to include a provision in the lease charging the costs back to the tenants.

But despite the law most Jersey City landlords are shouldering the costs, said Charles Odei, director for Jersey City’s Division of Tenant Landlord Relations. “With all the other cases (but Grandview Terrace) we’ve been successful in getting the landlord to pay so far,” he said.

The 284-unit Grandview Terrace has had nearly 50 cases of bedbugs in the past three years, said Steve Lesko, president of Norman Ostrow Inc., which manages the building. He said the building’s tenant board voted in 2006 to charge tenants individually.

“Why should people who don’t have a problem pay for people who do?” he said, adding that the policy tends to prevent false alarms.

That kind of policy, decided by a tenant board or not, just shows an ignorance of bed bugs and how they work. They probably made this decision ignorant of the fact that a large percentage of people do not react to bed bug bites, and so have to have a pretty serious infestation before they notice it. They must also have been ignorant about just how easily bed bugs travel within a building.

And clearly, Grandview Terrace’s management is ignorant about how bed bugs travel:

Lesko said most infestations at Grandview come from tenants bringing the bugs into the building through used furniture or their clothes, not from the bugs moving from one apartment to another.

But tenants disagree, saying they’ve seen the bugs in common areas, and that the critters can easily jump from one tenant to another in elevators.

And charging tenants individually has the down side that many won’t report the problem, causing the infestation to continue to spread.

“Everyone that lives in Grandview Terrace is on a fixed income,” said Robert High, who has tried to deal with the bugs on his own. “We can’t afford it.”

Bed bugs don’t jump, but they do walk, and run.

I am not sure how the building management determined that those 50 cases were mostly caused by bed bugs being brought in from outside.

(Perhaps Lesko has little tracking devices planted on them?)

But I do know this: forcing elderly people on limited incomes to pay for their own bed bug treatment is a good way to ensure the entire building is eventually infested. And that’s not good for owners or tenants.

New Jersey needs to update its housing laws. If tenants are going to be forced to pay for bed bug treatment, then there must be a provision of financial assistance to help them do so. And of course, if landlords are suffering hardship, the government can certainly pass laws to help them pay for treatment too. But skipping or skimping on bed bug treatment is not a good idea.

People need to be encouraged to report bed bug problems, and they need immediate treatment, regardless of ability to pay. It’s in everyone’s best interest that everyone gets good, swift treatment for bed bugs.

Update:

This article, also from the Journal, reports on how seniors in a Bayonne Housing Authority building, Back Bay Gardens, at 535 Avenue A, are suffering with bed bugs, despite treatment.

One tenant there had 10-12 PCO treatments, and has now been free of bed bug bites for three weeks (much too soon to declare victory).

The problem there seems to be that tenants are only treated if they complain about bed bugs — there do not seem to be any routine inspections going on. And when they are treated, the article implies there is a one-month gap between treatments and follow-ups only occur if tenants ask for them:

[John Mahon of the Bayonne Housing Authority] said the Housing Authority provides an extermination service once a month and sends the exterminator when a tenant calls with a problem.

A tenant who had treatment several weeks ago reports continuing to see bed bugs. Why aren’t all the units in this building being inspected, and why aren’t treatments recurring at approximately 2-week intervals, which most PCOs who know bed bugs seem to recommend? Almost no one gets rid of bed bugs after one treatment, since traditional treatments do not kill bed bug eggs, which hatch in approximately 10 days.

This article is disturbing, and a good reminder that simply providing bed bug treatment to residents is not enough; buildings and housing authorities need good bed bug treatment protocols; they need to provide aggressive treatment with follow-ups, and to inspect units adjoining those with infestations even when tenants have not yet detected a bed bug problem.

More on bed bugs in Grandview Terrace, and on the spread of bed bugs in Hoboken, Atlantic City, and the rest of the Garden State here.

• New Jersey legislators pushing to make landlords pay for bed bug treatment
• New York City: Who’s responsible for paying for bed bug treatment? Complicated, in some cases.
• landlords talking about bed bugs
• landlord’s duty to tell prospective tenants about bed bugs?

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“All we wanted was someone to tell whether the holding cells in the Central Judicial Processing Court are infested with bed bugs,” said Meyers, a Hudson County Maintenance Department employee. “But instead of giving me an answer, my supervisor screamed ‘I hate you! I hate you!’ and refused to tell us anything about the situation.”

The cells were indeed treated for bed bugs back in December (prior to this conversation of 12/28), so perhaps it is a sensitive area for the management?

The women claim they were split up and given more work after asking about bed bugs.

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“… on the advice of our exterminator, we intend to do the entire building,” Jackson said.

The fumigation will take place on three separate dates in June, he said. While the extermination is going on, tenants will have to vacate the building for several hours; those who have health conditions, such as Quinlan, who has emphysema, will have to vacate the apartments overnight.

“We are doing this at our own expense, at the cost of $8,000,” Jackson said.

“The extermination company said if we don’t handle the problem this way, and do the entire building, it could end up costing us a lot more later,” he said.

But some tenants, including Davina Waring, say the building management’s action comes too late.

She said she had to chuck her living room furniture after it became infested with the creepy crawlers nearly a year ago.

Strike one: if residents chucked furniture and other residents picked it up, that probably contributed to the spread.

Waring said she reported the problem to management, which brought in an exterminator to spray the couch. “After he sprayed the couch, the exterminator told me to vacuum it, but it didn’t do any good,” she said. She eventually threw it away.

“People used to come to my apartment, sit on my couch and start scratching,” she said. “One person thought she was allergic to my couch. I was too embarrassed to say what was really wrong.”

Strike two: not talking about the problem spreads the problem.

The building, located on Bergen Avenue between Grant and Orient avenues, is owned by the New Jersey Housing Mortgage Finance Agency and provides affordable and low-income housing.

It is subsidized through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 program.

One tenant, who did not want her name used, said she was able to get the building’s management to respond to her complaints about the bugs only after making calls to both HUD and the NJMFA.

However, Jackson said his office has responded to the problem whenever tenants called to complain. In fact, he said some tenants haven’t cooperated with their extermination efforts.

Strike three: education and cooperation are not extra bonuses. In the bed bug war, everyone needs to be on board with the problem, the treatment, and the follow-up.

“We even called a building meeting to explain what we are going to do about the problem but only 19 tenants showed up,” Jackson said.

Jackson also said bedbug infestation is becoming a problem throughout the state.

“The reason we have to wait until late next month to exterminate 277 Bergen is our exterminator is so backed up with similar jobs we have to wait for him to train more men to handle it,” he said.

I don’t mean to sound like I am blaming individual tenants–and certainly not the one quoted in the article. And I do understand the resistance of tenants to listening to what management tells them. This is why tenants need to organize and educate one another about bed bugs, with the help of management, in order to help prevent this happening again (more on that in a moment).

This article answers one question which came up in the comments on Jess’s post: the management paid $8000 for a 44-unit building. That’s only $182 per unit. That’s extremely economical. But sadly, unless at least 1/4 of the units are infested, the management is unlikely to see it as cost effective compared with traditional sprayings. And they should, assuming they feel they can prevent a repeat (again, more in a moment–bear with me).

My baseball metaphor is weak. The management company made a hit, a palpable hit, by using Vikane. I applaud the management for using Vikane and I hope other companies will do this when needed. But now comes the real test. As the comments on Jess’s recent post about another Jersey building undergoing the treatment suggested, education is most important–before people get bed bugs, while they’re fighting bed bugs, and perhaps most of all, once the bed bugs are entirely eliminated by Vikane.

Tenants need to feel some shared responsibility about not bringing in “found items” like used and secondhand furniture, found or bought. Even things given away by social service groups, relatives, or friends can be unknowingly infested. Tenants also need to be educated about signs to look for–I’d venture a guess that even more tenants had bed bugs than knew they had bed bugs (remember, many people do not react to bites). Still others knew and did not speak up. In order to make this bed bug-free situation persist, the management company, PCO, and tenants need to realize the precarious position that brought bed bugs into the building still exists, and they can come back. And this can be prevented (at least for a while), if everyone takes responsibility. Everyone.

If I were a tenant in 277 Bergen, or any other building using Vikane, and I were reading this, I would organize my fellow residents and work with management to bring an expert like Winston in to give a talk about how to prevent bed bugs coming back. Despite the fact that they are going to be wiped out, there is much to be learned. Otherwise, Vikane will only wipe the bed bugs out temporarily.

I know management can’t force people to attend, but residents should be the ones encouraging others to go. If I were a manager, I’d offer an incentive, say a free buffet meal, or a pair of movie tickets, to encourage attendance by residents at an educational session. It would be money well spent.

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• ABC 7 Eyewitness News: Edison, NJ infestation
• New Jersey’s laws designed to spread bed bugs in rental housing

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