MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee public housing residents partner with Common Ground to file a class-action lawsuit against the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee, or HACM.
The residents live at College Court, which is near 35th and Highland on the city’s west side.
In a statement, Common Ground says that “over the past 5 years more than 2,000 work orders were submitted by College Court tenants to address pervasive ‘pest control’ issues.” Residents specifically refer to bed bugs in their homes.
Resident Stacy Ream said during a press conference that she found bed bugs when she moved into College Court back on November 1, 2023. “I am paying rent for a unit that I cannot sleep in… because my apartment is infested since day 1.” Ream says she’s been staying at her mom’s house but continues to rent on time.
Carmella Holloway has lived at College Court for 18 years. “Bed bugs. I have them. This morning I picked one out of my ear. I should not have to live like this. I’m paying rent faithfully every month. I’m not behind or nothing but yet they treat me like I’m not even here.” Holloway says she first felt the bed bugs in her ear 4 months ago. She even went to the hospital to be treated for the bites.
Holloway says she complained directly to HACM and HUD, and eventually HACM sent “the bed bug man” to spray her apartment 4 times but it hasn’t helped. “My apartment is uninhabitable. The bugs are everywhere. They’re coming through the drain, the toilet, the baseboards, and the kitchen pipes. I can’t sleep at night. I haven’t gotten a decent night’s sleep for months. I’m up all night itching, and itching, and itching.”
Ream says HACM has also sprayed at her apartment but nothing has helped. “The bed bugs will never go away. They continue to crawl around as if they paid rent there.” She says Willie Hines, who is the secretary-executive director of HACM, wants to blame the residents for the infestation. “They blame the victim,” she says. “That’s a bunch of bull. This is a management problem. HACM plays ‘whack-a-mole’ with bugs.”
Lawyer Michael Cerjack of Barton Cerjak S.C., who is representing the residents and Common Ground, says “all we’re saying in this lawsuit is that HACM be treated like every other landlord that exists in this city. If there’s a substantial condition that interferes with the use of the premises or the health and safety of tenants, that landlord needs to address it. If HACM wants this case to go away, all they have to do is one thing: fix the problem.”
Cerjack clarified that the residents and Common Ground are not looking for monetary damages or a monetary judgement. They simply want a declaration by the court acknowledging the problem and to have the property abated. “If HACM solves the problem, then the lawsuit’s gonna go away.”
HACM will have 45 days to respond.
This is the first time that Milwaukee public housing residents have filed a class-action lawsuit.
