CLEVELAND — Residents at Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority’s Crestview Estates on 1400 Crestline Avenue claim their living conditions are unacceptable.
Latiah Carey said the apartment unit that she has lived in for five years is infested with unwanted guests: mice, cockroaches and other critters.
“I’ve seen them in my kitchen, my living room, the bathroom,” she said. “Around four to five months ago I started noticing the mice coming in really bad.”
She has mouse traps in every corner of her home.
“You can hear them in the walls,” she said. “Feces, germs, bacteria, who could live under those type of conditions, every day, constantly and be comfortable?”
She said she catches five to six mice a week and claims she’s told property management several times but the problem persists.
“I can’t even count anymore, that’s just how many times that I have went to them and I have mentioned to them and I have told them ‘you all have an infestation problem in this building,’” she said. “Management wasn’t doing anything so I felt the need to come to you all, Channel 5 and hopefully get some help.”
News 5 reached out about residents' complaints on Monday. CMHA Director, Sharhonda Greer said the contracted exterminator ’Terminex’ went out to the property on Tuesday.
“Some exterior baiting was done so they put out some bait boxes and so now they're actively closing up the holes that they did find around the site that could be potential entry points,” she said.
She said the pest and rodent complaints are new to her but added there will be continued monitoring of the situation.
“We're going to monitor it. We’ll have routine checks, they’ll come out and do routine checks so that if there’s an issue the issue will be resolved,” she said.
Hema Steele of CMHA said starting early next week exterminators will begin interior checks of any unit that has filed complaints of pests or rodents and those checks will continue weekly.
Steele and Greer encouraged residents to come to property management if there is an issue.
Carey said she is hopeful that the problem will be fixed for good but, based off of experience, isn’t confident.
“Do what’s needed,” she said. “I’m concerned about everybody, not just my well-being, but everybody who lives in this building.”
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