Warren public housing unit dealing with bed bug outbreak

Bed bugs are invading homes and other dwellings, including some public housing in Warren.

Melissa Alterburg says her father's apartment is crawling with bedbugs. He lives at Riverside Apartments in Warren.

“He called me at 11 o’clock at night and said he had bugs crawling on him. I showed up here, they were all over his body; bites everywhere,” Alterburg said.

Her father's been living at her place since the outbreak in mid-July. She says the bugs have ruined just about everything he owns.

“He's lost a brand new bedroom suite of $700, a recliner, $500. I had to go get him all new clothes and I'm on a fixed income with my kids also,” Alterburg said.

Riverside is run by the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority. They say five out of the 150 apartments there are being treated for bed bug outbreaks.

The assistant director of the housing authority says once bedbugs are identified in a unit, an outside contractor comes in and treats the unit.

He says it usually takes three different sprayings to get rid of them. “They get in the woodwork and various places in couches and cushions and once they are in they spread. They don’t stay in one place. You need to be vigilant and on top of it, said Russell Osman, Assistant Director of the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority.

But Melissa says there's been at least four treatments at her father's apartment and the bugs are still there. The county says they will continue to spot check the apartment to correct the infestation.