Public housing unit infested with roaches

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Imagine living in a home infested with roaches.

That's the reality for a Terre Haute woman, living in a Terre Haute Housing Authority unit.

"They're usually on the side and up in the corners," Molly Martinez said as she showed our News 10 crew dozens of cockroaches around her window.

She said it's been a problem in her government unit since she moved in.

"It's been nothing but a living hell," Martinez said.

They are crawling in almost every crevice, something Martinez doesn't want near her children.

"It's awful, they can't even lay on their own beds without cockroaches crawling on them."

Martinez said she tries to keep her home clean but they still won't go away.

She took our crew into her kitchen where more roaches make themselves at home, in her fridge, on her stove and in her food.

"I see thousands of them, when we kill them we do it in bunches. We have to wait until nighttime because that's when they come out the most," Martinez said.

Martinez said she and her family can't live surrounded by roaches anymore.

"I pay a dollar for rent. I do pay my rent. I live in government housing, they should do something," she said.

The Terre Haute Housing authority said they are dealing with the problem.

They said they know the roaches are a problem in the unit and they're battling it.

However, they said everyone in the unit needs to do their part to keep the place clean so the infestation doesn't continue.

The property director said she didn't want to go on-camera.

She did say no one should have to live with bugs and they recognize it's an ongoing problem.

She said they have exterminators on site four times a year regularly, however with units like Martinez's, they're doing regular visits.

In fact, she said they will have an exterminator in that unit each week doing a follow up until the problem's resolved.