A Bronx mother says her Concourse Village apartment has turned into a rodent nightmare, leaving her too scared to sleep and constantly on edge for her children. Simone says a rat infestation inside her unit has dragged on for nearly five years, with rodents darting across the stove, tearing through the pantry and gnawing on stored food. Two years ago, she says, a rat bit her 15-year-old son with autism; the antibiotics he was prescribed afterward triggered a severe allergic reaction and left him in a medical boot for weeks.
As reported by News 12, Simone says the unit at 1173 Walton Ave has generated more than 540 complaints to city agencies, yet she contends management has mostly responded by stuffing steel wool into holes she believes rats use to enter apartments. “I feel like if I fall asleep, then God forbid my kids are going to get bitten,” Simone told News 12. She also told the station that mold has been creeping across bathroom walls for years and that tiles crashed down in March, exposing yet another hole.
City Data Show Areawide Pressure On Pest Control
Data from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene show rodent complaints in the Bronx Grand Concourse Rat Mitigation Zone rose from 576 rodent-related 311 complaints in Jan to Jun 2023 to 645 in Jan to Jun 2024. The report describes proactive inspections, orders to abate and follow-up enforcement in rat mitigation zones as the city tries to rein in persistent infestations. That broader trend helps explain why tenants in Concourse Village say the problem feels long-running rather than like a one-off flare-up.
Management's Response And Tenant Frustration
Simone says she first brought the infestation to HSC Management Corporation’s attention about four years ago. She says management later posted a hallway letter that blamed trash left in common areas for making the rat problem worse. According to News 12, tenants say the fixes they have seen so far are short-lived, and that repairs have been slow or nonexistent even after the bathroom tiles fell in March. The family says management has not arranged lasting extermination or carried out structural work that would seal off rodent entry points.
What Tenants Can Do
Tenants are encouraged to document conditions, keep written requests to management and file complaints through 311 so city agencies can inspect apartments and, if appropriate, issue violations. The NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development explains how to report unsafe conditions, file HPD complaints and seek remedies in Housing Court if necessary repairs are not made. Official complaints create a paper trail that can lead to commissioner orders to abate and, in some situations, city-arranged extermination that is billed back to the property owner.
Neighborhood Pressure And Enforcement
Local reporting and residents say Concourse Village and nearby blocks have been dealing with steady rodent pressure, along with ongoing arguments over who is responsible for waste and basic upkeep. As outlined by the Bronx Times, Community Board 4 accounts for a large share of rodent complaints, and neighbors have repeatedly pushed city agencies for more inspections and better waste management across the area.
Simone says she wants real, permanent repairs and comprehensive extermination, not temporary patches and tufts of steel wool, and she plans to keep pressing city agencies until that happens. For now, she says, her family is stuck living on edge, waiting for decisive action from both their landlord and city inspectors.
