MILWAUKEE— The ongoing bedbug infestation residents say they’re dealing with at College Court prompted five of them to file a class-action lawsuit against the public housing building’s manager, The Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM).
67-year-old Carmella Holloway has been a College Court resident for 18 years.
“It’s very degrading and I shouldn’t have to live like this,” Holloway, said. “I haven’t slept in my unit in six, or seven months. I’ve been awoken every night and they’re crawling up my arm.”
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday morning. It states a request to Milwaukee County Circuit Court to hold HACM accountable by ruling that it needs to eradicate the bedbug, roach, and rodent problem in the building permanently. If that’s not done, it requests the court to allow residents to abate their rent, per state statute.
40-year-old Stacy Ream said she’s been staying with her mother due to the bedbug infestation inside her apartment.
“We are tired,” Ream said. “We are beyond tired of the persistent bedbug infestation here at College Court.”
Michael Cerjak of Barton Cerjak S.C. is representing the residents. He also represented plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against Community Within the Corridor last year, a dispute that has now been settled.
“As far as I’m aware, it’s the first case like this,” Cerjak said. “We think the outcome we’re looking for, which isn’t any monetary judgement or money damages, but a simple declaration from the court that this is a problem.”
217 pages of work order requests for College Court were released Wednesday as well. They span from July 17, 2019 to July 17, 2024. Spectrum News investigated those documents and found the following:
- 9,722 out of 11,049 work orders are deemed “completed"
- 1,328 work orders are deemed “canceled"
- 426 requests are labeled “emergency”
- 151 requests included the word “Bedbugs” or “Bed Bugs.” Hundreds of others seem to have abbreviated it to BB
- 1,031 requests included the word “Roach” or “Roaches”
- 81 requests included the word “Mice”
“Completed is very different than fixed,” Kevin Solomon said, an organizer with Common Ground who has been working with HACM’s residents for the past two years.
“What we see is they say they complete it, but then, they keep having problems. Carmella is told there will be somebody to spray four time, but she still found bedbugs in her ear yesterday,” Solomon said.
Also publicized Wednesday, a letter to Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, signed by 190 residents from various HACM properties.
It accuses the mayor of protecting HACM’s Secretary-Executive Director Willie Hines, who has refused media interviews for more than a year. Spectrum News asked Mayor Johnson for his response to this accusation.
“I think residents are not necessarily doing that and I think there are certain organizations that are suggesting that,” he said. “I saw the recent letter from Common Ground saying that ‘Johnson is trying to protect Willie Hines and looking out for his pension.’ I don’t know how old Willie Hines is or when he’s going to retire. That is silly and I think it’s Trumpian throwing things at the wall, no matter if they’re true or not, to see what sticks. That is just not true.”
Johnson responded to the lawsuit as well, saying the city will let the process play out in court.
“When we found that we had the ability to have the Department of Neighborhood Services go in and inspect units, I said yes,” he said. “Let’s use my executive authority and allow for that to happen.”
Mayor Johnson also said he thinks the Housing Authority is moving forward in a positive way.
Spectrum News reached out to HACM for a response on the lawsuit. A spokesperson replied that they do not comment on pending litigation.
Cerjak said the hope is for HACM to fix the issues and for the lawsuit to be dropped. He said thus far, there are no court dates for this litigation on the calendar. Cerjak said HACM has 45 days to respond to the lawsuit.