Harlem NYCHA Development Tops System In Roach Complaints

HARLEM, NY — Harlem's Ulysses S. Grant Houses topped New York City's public housing system in combined roach and bedbug complaints in the first nine months of 2019, according to data acquired by the Legal Aid Society and shared with Patch.

The New York City Housing Authority logged 877 work orders for roach complaints at the nine-building development located along West 125th Street from Broadway to Morningside Avenue. In the first nine months of 2019 the entire NYCHA system had 54,742 roach complaints.

Grant received about 50 more roach orders than the next development, Brooklyn's Linden Houses. Rounding out the top five in roach complaints were the Edenwald Houses, Boulevard Houses and Pelham Parkway Houses.

Grant's numbers for bedbugs weren't the worst in the city, but were close. With 104 bedbug work orders, Grant was second only to the Pomonok Houses in Queens. The Queens development tallied 116 work orders in the first nine months of 2019.

The combined 981 roach and bedbug orders put Grant were more than 100 more than the next development, Brooklyn's Linden Houses, according to the data acquired by the Legal Aid Society.

Judith Goldiner, the attorney-in-charge of the Legal Aid Society's civil law reform unit, described the sheer number of pest work orders in NYCHA buildings as "troubling." One positive sign is that the average work order was completed within a span of nine to 10 days, according to Goldiner.

"But it is telling that NYCHA has been able to fully close the majority of these complaints without significant delay. This is a clear byproduct of more staff on the ground and resources. With the Legislature now in session, we again call for increased funding for public housing authorities to address these problems and others facing tenants," Goldiner said in a statement.