Jul 30
2024
So long, bed bugs
- Share on
BMHA Executive Director Gillian Brown, left, and LBJ Apartments tenant representative Erma Ecford. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel.
The bed bug infestation is gone.
So are the rats.
And most of the washers and dryers in the laundry room are working again.
That’s what tenants at the Lyndon B. Johnson apartments recently said, just over three months after Investigative Post reported that residents had been living with insect and rodent infestations, leaky ceilings and security concerns, among other issues.
Tenant representative Erma Ecford, who initially brought to light conditions at the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority-owned senior complex, said the incessant swarms of bed bugs have been nearly eradicated, there are significantly fewer roaches, and no rodents have been sighted in or around the property.
Investigative Post toured the complex last week and found repairs and upgrades have also been made throughout individual units and the main structure.
“It smells good in here. It looks good in here. It’s phenomenal,” Ecford said.
“We hardly have bed bugs. We hardly have roaches — maybe one or two, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroom
LBJ, located at Main Street and Humboldt Parkway, is the housing authority’s largest senior development, with 208 units. Seventy percent of tenants are elderly and many are disabled, making bug infestations and other problems particularly troublesome.
Ecford is so pleased with the changes that she invited BMHA Executive Director Gillian Brown to present him with a letter of appreciation and to show him the improvements that have been made at LBJ.
“Whatever you’re doing, I’m really very happy with you,” she told Brown last Wednesday.
She also credits a new assistant superintendent Brown assigned to the property with addressing tenant concerns.
Brown said the authority has been working to improve conditions in the complex, noting that the building recently got a passing inspection of 85 out of 100 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“I was really proud of the guys for their work out here,” Brown said. “They worked very hard, they really brought the place back up to speed. The folks doing the exterminating did a great job.”
BMHA arranged mandatory pest control inspections for each unit days after Investigative Post initially reported concerns about the infestations in April. Those inspections confirmed that 26 of the complex’s 208 units were infested with bed bugs.
I’Jaz Ja’ciel’s original reporting from April.
Brown said that eliminating the pests was a joint effort between thorough exterminations and tenant compliance.
“When you have a building where people are not cooperating with the extermination procedures, it’s a lot harder to get rid of it,” he said. “These folks have been really cooperative. They wanted to get the job done and I couldn’t be happier.”
In the publicly accessible spaces of the complex, tenants noted major improvements.
The laundry room, for example, has been repainted and is kept clean, thanks to the hiring of a new cleaning company. Brown said the housing authority continues to work with the laundry company, CSC ServiceWorks, to improve the laundry room’s amenities. All but one of the washers have been repaired and all of the dryers are in working order.
The community room, which was infested with bed bugs and rodent droppings, has been fully exterminated and will be undergoing a remodeling in the near future. Missing ceiling tiles have been replaced in both the community room and in the hallway, where there were formerly exposed wires.
Most of the units have received remodels to their kitchens and bathrooms, which the housing authority had already gotten a start on.
An apartment unit kitchen at LBJ Apartments. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel.
“We’ve been working on the kitchens and baths for a long time, so as that job finally starts to wind down, I think this is going to be a really desirable building, which is what we wanted when we first applied for the [Capital Fund Financing Program] funding several years ago. The idea was that these were tenant retention projects,” Brown said.
Brown applied for the funding through HUD within his first year of becoming executive director in 2018. He said the BMHA has been making improvements to several of its housing complexes, including LBJ, for the past six years.
“We’ve done a ton of work. It just takes a long time,” Brown said.
Tenants also noted improvements in their apartments. Tenant Lauren Dove, who had been withholding rent due to being displeased with her living conditions, said she is much more comfortable in her apartment, apart from a few pests.
“It’s just the roaches now. At least the bed bugs have gone somewhere,” Dove said, noting that she doesn’t get bitten in her sleep anymore.
“I appreciate it, thank you very much,” she told Brown.
Ecford said the leaks in her bathroom have been fixed and that she doesn’t have bed bugs in her apartment either.
Tenants are also pleased with changes to LBJ’s exterior, noting the authority replaced the surrounding fence, groundskeepers cut the grass more frequently, and trash is regularly cleaned up. There are new flower pots in the back and front of the building.
They also said safety has improved due to more police patrols. Ecford said there are fewer intruders, although some emergency exit doors remain breached. One door, she said, won’t stay shut due to being propped open by outsiders, and some intruders cut wires on the security alarm so it no longer goes off when the door is opened.
Still, Ecford said, tenants feel far better than they did a couple months ago. She said she plans to present Brown with a plaque at the next BMHA commissioners meeting in August to show appreciation on behalf of the residents.
“Everybody that had complaints [now] have no complaints,” she said.
Brown said he was pleased to see the changes and will continue to improve living conditions.
“The reality is, I own it. It was mine,” Brown said of the problems. “We’re not done.”
