A New York City tenant is living in conditions that would be hard to imagine, surrounded by collapsed ceilings, mold, bugs and rats as she waits for someone to make her home safe again. According to a Taking Action investigation by News 12, the ceilings in both the kitchen and bathroom of a Bedford Park apartment in the Bronx have caved in, leaving the resident to cope with the mess and the pests that have come with the damage.
For Maria Rodriguez, the trouble began in the kitchen. She said the ceiling there came down on June 24, striking her as she was simply trying to get some water so she could take her medicine. She called the police, and an ambulance was sent to take her away; weeks later, she said, her body still hurts from what happened that day in her own home.
Rather than a lasting repair, Rodriguez said, the building's superintendent simply covered the damage up with garbage bags. Then, about three days later, she said, the same thing happened again, this time in the bathroom. For the past two weeks she has had to rush through showers and trips to the bathroom, wary of a ceiling she no longer trusts over her head.
The ordeal has taken a toll on more than the apartment itself. Rodriguez said she now suffers panic attacks and anxiety, insisting that no one should have to live like this and that she is worn out by the situation. She described feeling unheard through it all, saying that more than anything she just wants somebody to listen and to help.
The structural damage is not the only problem she is facing. Rodriguez said there is a rat problem throughout the building, with one rat running through her apartment for months, forcing her to board up her cabinets to keep it out. Bugs, she added, have been coming from the wet, moldy ceiling, and she keeps a pan on the counter and in her living room to catch the water that drips down.
The complaints appear to reach well beyond a single unit. The website of the city's housing agency, HPD, shows multiple open complaints from Rodriguez and from other units in the same building describing similar issues. She said she calls the management company every day, only to be told that they will get back to her, and that in the end no one ever does.
For now, Rodriguez said, hope is all she has left while she waits for her home to feel safe again. News 12 said it reached out to CYA management, the company that operates the building, for comment but had not yet heard back, and it encouraged residents dealing with similar problems in their own neighborhoods to come forward so the conditions can be brought to light.