Calvin Merritt’s problems at Hillrise Apartments are pretty simple.

“Mostly bugs, roaches and all that…”

The “all that” is bed bugs. Dead ones were easy to find under Calvin’s mattress, and piles of them behind the bed. When exterminators come in to spray here, their work’s easy to see, pesticide stains run down Calvin’s walls. Calvin pays 313 dollars a month for this one bedroom…what little furniture he had was mostly pitched, because it was infested.

Calvin Merritt, Resident: “I done lost everything got here, my couch, my other chairs, all the stuff I had was new, I had to get rid of all of that.”

At the other end of the hall, Jeanette Jessie doesn’t have any bedbugs, but she worries about them just the same.

Jeanette Jessie, Resident: “They just spread them from one end of the building to the other, this is crazy, get this place cleaned up, spray it at one time and get rid of this mess.”

It sounds a bit like the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA in Washington DC, Halcyon House in Denver, and Warren Towers in East Moline, Illinois. Elderly people, disabled people, and anyone in low-income housing is being dealt a raw deal when it comes to getting rid of bed bugs. Let’s face it, bed bugs are expensive to treat. They’re also a rather sudden problem no one was expecting and no one has budgeted for.

Bed bugs are difficult to treat, too. Traditional treatments require multiple pest control visits at short intervals. Residents must prepare for treatment, which can be a lengthy process and costly too (especially for those on a fixed income).

However, make no mistake: non-aggressive treatment (treating only some of the infested units, treating at too-long intervals, or not coming as many times as needed), waiting for tenants who might be unaware they have bed bugs to report them, and not providing assistance with preparation costs and physical labor–all of these reactions from landlords and housing managers mean that bed bugs will be around longer, spread into more units, and cost much more to get rid of.

It just does not make sense on any practical level to not be aggressive, thorough, and quick to treat bed bugs in a building you are responsible for. It is simply a display of ignorance about the nature of this beast.

We can’t entirely blame landlords for this ignorance; none of us were expecting bed bugs. But we need to educate the public about the signs of bed bugs, and we need to educate professionals in all walks of life (from those who provide housing, to hospitality services, to health care, education, and on and on) about the need for a bed bug protocol which includes both proactive searching for signs of bed bugs, and swift reactions to any bed bug signs or sightings.

Too many people seem to be hoping they’ll just go away. Good luck with that. In the meantime:

Channel 12 reports,

Officials from the Cincinnati Health Department tell us they’ll soon be taking a closer look at conditions in the apartments.

I love the Cincinnati Health Department. But you knew that.

• Indianapolis Housing Authority vs. Bed Bugs
• Cincinnati Establishes Bed Bug Furniture Pick-Up Procedures and Hotline
• Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Housing Authority vs. Bed Bugs
• Cincinnati fights bed bugs, declares some success

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Bushwick, Brooklyn is home to two large dueling loft buildings: 248 and 255 McKibben Street. Yes, that’s right: they’re buildings so hip, fun, and now, they have their own myspace pages. (Don’t laugh, but we have one too.)

Gawker did an article today about the buildings’ problems with bed bugs, though judging from the comments there and on myspace, only the residents of 248 are claiming to have a problem with bed bugs.

The Bed Bug Registry has complaints from thirteen different tenants about the building. (For its neighbor 255 McKibben, there are none.)

248 McKibben also has a whole blog running on myspace about the building’s alleged bed bug epidemic. It makes for interesting reading. The residents are correct that the entire building must be treated, if the infestation is as extensive as they claim it is. There’s a reluctancy on the part of some residents to call HPD (311) and file a housing complaint, for fear they won’t get references from their landlord in future.

Such concerns abound on our forums too. I have not heard from anyone who has filed an HPD report on a landlord and who has not been able to rent after that. I do know multiple people who have “pissed landlords off” by expecting to have pest problems, leaks, etc. fixed, and whose landlords were so happy to see such “troublemakers” move on that they gave the next landlord glowing reviews!

So I think the idea is kind of an urban myth. If it happens, though, surely the tenants could clip articles about how infested their building was, and show it to future real estate brokers as evidence that they had good reason to file an HPD report. Frankly, shouldn’t the real estate brokers recognize that if HPD agrees with the tenant that their building is infested (and files said report), then the tenant should not be blacklisted in this way?

Or are we all going to end up living with bed bugs because we’re afraid our landlords will not give us a good reference when we want to move to another building with different amenities and more bed bugs? Because if everyone is afraid to demand their landlords treat the problem, we’ll all have bed bugs soon.

• Real estate brokers who do not disclose that buildings are infested with bed bugs
• Another 23-25 Temple St., Nashua, N.H. tenant sues landlord over bed bugs
• Shameful landlord AIMCO: biggest landlord in USA refuses to deal with bed bugs
• Tenants claim Manitoba Housing knowingly let someone move bed bug-infested items into building

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VANCOUVER - City councillors aren’t jumping at a chance to swap their homes with a group of women living in poverty in the squalid Downtown Eastside.

Eight of 10 city councillors who reflected on an eight-week housing challenge put forth by the Power of Women Group in a July 2 letter declined to participate.

From what I gather, the other two were unreachable.

What was the exact nature of the challenge?

In the detailed letter, the group challenged Mayor Sam Sullivan and each councillor to live on $610, sleep in a single-room occupancy residence and give up driving their cars.

“We believe that politicians far too frequently make declarations and decisions about ‘resolving’ poverty, particularly in the Downtown Eastside, without having any idea about the painful reality of those who live in the DTES,” they wrote.

Refusal or excuses weren’t acceptable, they said, saying this would be a confirmation “that there is absolutely no political will to eliminate poverty.”

The 40-member group is still waiting for a response from council, said spokeswoman Harsha Walia of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. “Nobody’s called us,” Walia said. “We’ve left messages but they’re not returning our calls.”

The idea of politicians living in low-income housing is not new. Mayor Jane Byrne did it in Chicago in 1981, when she briefly moved into the Cabrini Green housing project. Since a politician is hardly likely to have the same experience as people forced to live in such conditions indefinitely, it’s surprising that the politicians were unwilling to swap houses, and in many cases said even a night would be too long.

And why might that be, you’re wondering? Bed bugs. The Downtown Eastside has probably been mentioned more than any other single neighborhood in any city, in this blog.

Bedbugs — common in low-cost SROs — are a big deterrent, said COPE councillor David Cadman. “It’s a huge challenge to go down there and get bedbugs,” Cadman said. “It’s not something I’m going to do, nor am I going to bring that home.”

NPA councillor Kim Capri said the wording of the letter was hurtful. “The ultimatum at the end, quite frankly, hurt me,” she said. The fact that she doesn’t intend to take up the group’s challenge doesn’t mean she doesn’t care, Capri said: “I think this council deeply cares and moreover, I think this council gets it.”

Vision Vancouver councillor Raymond Louie said he would consider the challenge if he didn’t have three children to consider. “I’m not going to be taking the kids to the streets of our city for eight weeks . . . .” Louie said.

And NPA councillor Peter Ladner said he doesn’t see the point of spending one night — let alone eight weeks — living in the conditions outlined by the challenge.

“I’m not sure what it would prove,” Ladner said. “I’m going to take this as an invitation to go down and see what’s going on.”

NPA councillors B.C. Lee and Suzanne Anton declined the challenge too. Anton said she was “interested in doing a night, but I don’t think I’d be interested in spending a long time.”

Vision councillors Heather Deal and George Chow both declined as well. “I sympathize with the women, their frustration of having to live in the Third World condition that is some of the SROs . . . . They are crying out for help,” said Chow.

Sullivan declined because, he said, he’s already familiar with housing issues. “Before becoming mayor — and after my accident — I collected welfare and spent several years in a social housing co-op and a paraplegic lodge in Vancouver’s east end. This experience has stayed with me.”

To be fair to the councillors, I would not want to move into the Downtown Eastside either. Or any other place I thought might have bed bugs.

Some of these politicians quoted above appear to understand and take the plight of local residents seriously, and so perhaps they will continue to work towards alleviating those conditions. We have to remember that Vancouver appears to be doing more about its bed bugs than any other city. It is not yet enough, by any means, but in many ways, it’s still admirable.

Still, I think extending this invitation was a good way for the group to get the politicians to seriously consider the conditions their neighbors and constituents had to live under. Perhaps it will spur on further change.

• Vancouver official blames hanky-panky for bed bugs in nice areas
• Itchy the Bed Bug: an Olympic Mascot for Vancouver
• Toronto Councillor Paula Fletcher has some progressive ideas about bed bugs
• And another ray of hope from Vancouver’s VANDU

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Adam Bosch reported in the Times Herald-Record that

Tenants complained to the building’s owner and manager about bugs and items of disrepair, but they said reports of their problems fell on deaf ears. The building is owned by North Plank Development Co., a subsidiary of Orange County realtor John Lease III, and by Autumn Sky Development Co., whose CEO is Steven Michalski of New Paltz.

Unlike Halcyon House, of course, this building was much smaller (only 16 apartments). Nine residents, five of them veterans from WWII, Vietnam, and Desert Storm, signed a petition, which they presented to the village of Monticello, the DSS, and the VA, on June 20th. Note to Bedbugged readers: organizing tenants can really make things happen.

Monticello’s action was prompted by a June 20 petition from tenants. They sent the petition to village officials and other organizations, such as the Department of Social Services and Veterans Administration.

“We the undersigned make this formal complaint about the infestation of bedbugs,” the letter read. “We have repeatedly complained to the management about this problem and as yet have not gotten any results.”

The city has shut down the building, and the red cross has moved the tenants to area hotels. (Note to building management, village officials and Red Cross: you probably need a bed bug protocol for future situations; it’s easy for tenants to spread bed bugs to hotels, and bring them back again. Treatment should thus continue after tenants return, and in future some protocol needs to be developed to help people not take bed bugs to their “safe” alternate housing.)

The heroes? The village, of course, willing to stand up to landlords. (Are you listening, city of Denver?)

The building was formerly the Victoria Hotel, a boarding house in which people lived on top floors above a basement pub. Now an apartment building, it was closed last week as part of Monticello’s continuing crusade against substandard housing. The village has shut down more than 20 blighted or noncompliant houses since February.

I am glad that Monticello’s inspectors find it unacceptable for tenants to live with bed bugs.

The bedbugs were so numerous that their feces left large stains on tiled floors, village building inspector Sue Flora said. The bugs also ate holes into the skin of residents, leaving them with trails of scabs.

And the lone tenant who got the ball rolling, convincing other tenants to sign a petition, even when many were willing to tolerate bed bugs for years.

The charge for help at 384 E. Broadway was lead by tenant Rich Masser, 61. Masser said many of the people living in the apartments had grown used to the bedbugs. Some had lived there for more than 15 years. They were scared of what might happen if they made a fuss about it. Some feared this very fate, that they might be forced to leave.

Fear of the consequences of pressing landlords to solve a bed bug problem is widespread. But without treatment, problems will only get worse.

“For years they were getting bit and wouldn’t say a word about it,” Masser said of his fellow tenants. “Nobody deserves to live like this – nobody.”

Bravo, Rich Masser. Thanks for reminding us that one person can make a difference.

You’re Bedbugger’s first official Hero of the Week!

Maybe someone out there can whip up a nice “Hero of the Week” icon for us, but for now, words will have to do.

I don’t know if Mr. Masser was one of the veterans named in the article, but he is certainly a Hero. Happy Independence Day to the tenants of this building. I hope they are living back at home and under suitable conditions soon.

• Adult home shut down in Monticello, NY with multiple housing violations; 40 beds contained “bed bugs and bed bug eggs”
• Tenants claim Manitoba Housing knowingly let someone move bed bug-infested items into building
• Indianapolis Housing Authority vs. Bed Bugs
• Bed bug notice: East Village, NYC, January 2008

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