SAN ANTONIO – Exterminators say they’ve always been a constant threat, but the San Antonio Housing Authority reports roach infestations have gotten worse in the past year.
Residents in the Olive Park Apartments on the east side reached out to News 4 for help.
A Raid can tossed in the trash was no match for roaches we saw coming out of the woodwork by the dozen.
"They're just stuck all in here, see?" Ashley points to a baseboard in her kitchen.
She didn’t want her identity revealed because the problem is embarrassing.
"I can't put anything in my apartment without roaches getting in it,” she says.
Roaches hide under couch cushions and slink and out of the refrigerator.
"There are some already dead in here,” Ashley points to the freezer shelf.
Plus, rat droppings are scattered all over the pantry.
Ashley says she reported the problems over and over to apartment managers.
“It’s been a year,” she says. “There have been so many work orders.”
But upstairs, the roaches multiplied in the rooms her five small children share.
"They go sometimes in her crib and stuff,” Ashley says while going through the baby bed. “There’s one right there. My kids can't even sleep in their own rooms sometimes because the roaches are always crawling all over them."
News 4 reached out to the San Antonio Housing Authority and got the family immediate results. Not only will their apartment be fumigated, so will the other apartments in the unit.
”You want to treat the entire building,” Melanie Villalobos with SAHA says. “If you treat just one unit, sometimes it will chase them to another. That's not at all what we want to happen."
SAHA teams will go into all units and empty the drawers and cabinets so every nook and cranny is treated.
"Hopefully it works,” Ashley says. It's bad for kids to be living in the thing."
SAHA hired a new exterminator company just last week to help get a handle on the growing problem.
Public housing residents can call (210) 477-6800 to report infestations.
