NYCHA Expands Rat Reduction Initiative
NYCHA will double the number of developments in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Neighborhood Rat Reduction (NRR) program, bringing it to an additional 60 developments that are home to 91,000 residents. This expansion is part of NYCHA’s commitment to improving the quality of life for residents.
Launched in 2017, NRR is a multi-agency initiative to reduce rat populations by targeting specific communities where they are most problematic. The 60-site expansion includes 39 developments in Harlem as well as 21 high-priority developments selected based on the number of open work orders and staff inspections.
The NRR program has already shown strong success at the initial 60 developments, which have experienced a 73 percent decline in rat burrows.
“Through the expansion of the Neighborhood Rat Reduction program, NYCHA will work with its partners at DOHMH and DSNY to eradicate rats at our developments,” said NYCHA General Manager Vito Mustaciuolo. “Thanks to Mayor de Blasio’s commitment, NYCHA will better focus its resources to reduce infestations and improve the quality of NYCHA communities for residents.”
The $8.1 million, five-year expansion is another effort by the Authority to shift from corrective to preventative maintenance, and will include proactive extermination, burrow-collapsing efforts, trash chute cleaning, and the sealing of basement window wells. The funds will allow the Health Department to hire five more inspectors and NYCHA to hire an additional 12 exterminators and nine caretakers.
The Department of Sanitation will begin providing NYCHA developments with unlimited bulk garbage pick-up to address the underlying conditions that create pest infestations. It will also create a hotline for NYCHA staff to call to have containerized garbage picked up in between scheduled collection times.
For the remainder of the summer, NYCHA will run a pest-mitigation blitz, increasing the number of exterminators and sending them to developments with the largest number of complaints.
The new NRR sites are:
- 131 SAINT NICHOLAS AVENUE
- 335 EAST 111TH STREET
- AUDUBON
- BETHUNE GARDENS
- BORINQUEN PLAZA I
- BORINQUEN PLAZA II
- BRONX RIVER
- CARVER
- CLAREMONT PARKWAY-FRANKLIN AVENUE
- CLINTON
- CORSI HOUSES
- DAVIDSON
- DOUGLASS ADDITION
- DOUGLASS I
- DOUGLASS II
- DREW-HAMILTON
- EAST RIVER
- FORT WASHINGTON AVENUE REHAB
- FULTON
- GRAMPION
- GRANT
- HARLEM RIVER
- HARLEM RIVER II
- JEFFERSON
- JOHNSON
- KING TOWERS
- KINGSBOROUGH
- LEXINGTON
- LINCOLN
- MANHATTANVILLE
- MANHATTANVILLE REHAB (GROUP 2)
- MANHATTANVILLE REHAB (GROUP 3)
- MARSHALL PLAZA
- METRO NORTH PLAZA
- MONROE
- MOORE
- MORRIS PARK SENIOR CITIZENS HOME
- PARK AVENUE-EAST 122ND, 123RD STREETS
- PATTERSON
- POLO GROUNDS TOWERS
- PUBLIC SCHOOL 139 (CONVERSION)
- QUEENSBRIDGE NORTH
- QUEENSBRIDGE SOUTH
- RANGEL
- ROBINSON
- SAINT NICHOLAS
- SAMUEL (CITY)
- SOUTH BRONX AREA (SITE 402)
- ST. MARY’S PARK
- STEBBINS AVENUE-HEWITT PLACE
- TAFT
- UNION AVENUE-EAST 163RD STREET
- UNION AVENUE-EAST 166TH STREET
- UPACA (SITE 5)
- UPACA (SITE 6)
- WAGNER
- WASHINGTON
- WASHINGTON HEIGHTS REHAB PHASE III (HARLEM RIVER)
- WHITE
- WILSON
