Linda Gipp keeps a running tally on her refrigerator, and as of this week the count stood at 42 mice caught and killed inside her Bridgeview apartment in Chester over the past eight months. The infestation has cost her sleep, money and peace of mind, she says, and despite repeated extermination efforts, the mice keep coming.
“I've got 42 as of today,” Gipp said, according to NBC Philadelphia, which reported that she lives at Bridgeview, a property managed by the Delaware County Housing Authority. Gipp says the problem has persisted since at least February, and that it has taken a toll on her finances, her sleep and her overall peace of mind.
Traps, Droppings and Sleepless Nights
Gipp has set up dozens of traps throughout her apartment and documents each catch with photos and that refrigerator tally, the station's report shows. She says she has spent hundreds of dollars trying to keep the rodents away, with little lasting success.
The toll has gone beyond her wallet. Gipp said she has gone to her sister's home on weekends just to get some rest, because the mice squealed at night and their droppings turned up on her own bed. Pointing to one spot in her apartment, she described finding a mouse there just that morning, adding, “This is where I found the one this morning, right there. See, I got traps lining it so they can't get in or out.”
Management Promised Treatment Back in March
Bridgeview's management first notified residents of the problem in a letter dated March 30, telling tenants the building had a mice infestation and that pest-control treatments would begin in April, per the same NBC10 account. More than seven months later, Gipp says she is still catching mice inside her home, and she has questioned whether the infestation is confined to her unit or affects the whole building.
A Delaware County Housing Authority official said in an email late last month that management was taking necessary and appropriate action, and that additional extermination services would continue until the problem is resolved; Gipp said residents were told exterminators would return Thursday, November 5, for another round of treatment, and that she had also reached out to the Delaware County Health Department seeking help, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. The station noted it had not received additional responses from the housing authority, property management or county health officials as of its latest report.
Similar Complaints Surface Beyond Chester
Gipp's experience echoes complaints from tenants elsewhere. In Easton, 75-year-old housing authority tenant Denise Thomas said she had killed 34 mice in her Bushkill House apartment and that they kept coming in, according to lehighvalleylive.com. Board Chairman Terrance Hand said mice were a problem across downtown Easton, displaced by nearby roadwork and construction, while the authority's interim director called Thomas' complaint an isolated resident concern rather than a building-wide issue.
In Hartford, Allison Bridges said a mouse infestation made her apartment unlivable, forcing her and her four children into temporary housing, NBC Boston reported. City inspectors who visited found evidence of mice, and Hartford's mayor said the city could escalate enforcement against the landlord through a notice of violation, fines or property liens if the problem went unaddressed.
A separate case in New Haven involved rats rather than mice. FOX61 reported that one Kensington Square Apartments building had a rat infestation while tenants in other buildings on the property said they had mice. Mayor Justin Elicker said residents in four of the six units in the rat-infested building needed to leave, and that the city would condemn the affected units and common areas until the issue was resolved, even though the property owner said an exterminator was on-site weekly and apartments received preventive treatment at least three times a year.
Back in Chester, Gipp is left waiting to see whether Thursday's scheduled treatment makes a difference after months of traps, tallies and sleepless nights at Bridgeview.
