Pontiac residents deal with mice, bedbugs in apartment building

PONTIAC, Mich. – An explosion of emotion is coming out of a Pontiac apartment building as residents tell a story of mice and bedbugs caught in their units.

"My place is the most bed bug infested place in the building," a resident said.

The place is called Carriage Circle and people living there call it the worst of the worst.

"The atmosphere in this building feels like we've been forgotten," said Jeanne Simpson.

The dozens of photos residents are sending of rats and mice caught in their units will make your skin crawl.

Residents are also dealing with black mold.

Willie Sullivan and his wife are stuffed in a unit with 27 oxygen tanks. The pipes burst this week.

He has emphysema and he says he's breathing black mold.

"Don't supposed to be breathing that," Sullivan said.

There are also bedbugs. Person after person showed us bite marks they say are from bed bugs. One woman was covered in skin medication because she says she's been bitten from head to toe.

"I don't know what's been chewing on me," she said. "I know I'm ate up."

Who is paying for people to live in these conditions? You are. The apartment is run by the Pontiac Housing Commission, which spends state and federal tax dollars to provide low income housing.


About the Author:

Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.