Tenants at a Bronx apartment building say they are living with a bed bug infestation that has only grown worse, the latest chapter in a long-running fight over conditions at the property. According to Eyewitness News, the building at 1187 Anderson Avenue has been a source of complaints for some time, and residents say the pests have now spread through much of it.
The problems at the building are not new. Eyewitness News first highlighted the conditions there when residents went on a rent strike, withholding their payments in an effort to force management to make repairs. Some of the issues were addressed at the time, but the situation was soon complicated by events well beyond the tenants' control.
Ownership of the building has been in turmoil since then. After the initial push for repairs, the landlord declared bankruptcy, and in February a new management company, Arch Rock, took over the property. For residents, the change in management has not brought the relief they had hoped for as they continue to deal with the same underlying conditions.
The infestation itself has been spreading through the building. Residents said the bed bugs have now moved from the first floor all the way up to the fourth floor of the six-story building, meaning the problem is no longer confined to a single unit or level but has worked its way through much of the structure where families live.
For some tenants, the conditions have become unbearable, especially for those with young children. One resident said families with babies simply cannot live in a building that is infested in this way, describing it as unhealthy for the family, for the kids and for the baby, and some residents have decided to leave rather than keep fighting it out.
Others are staying and trying to force change through official channels. Residents said they have been working with tenants' rights groups and have appealed to the city and to elected officials for help, hoping that outside pressure can succeed where their own complaints to management have so far not.
For now, answers from the building's managers have been hard to come by. According to Eyewitness News, efforts to reach Arch Rock management about the infestation and the conditions at 1187 Anderson Avenue were unsuccessful, leaving tenants to press their case with advocates and officials while the bed bugs continue to spread.