The city's Neighborhood Rat Reduction Plan includes dry ice treatment and full-time exterminators to aggressively combat rat infestation.
The city is declaring war on the rat population in ten public housing developments across NYC. On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio launched a new extermination plan which includes the application of dry ice abatement treatments, full-time exterminators, trash bins for residents and new concrete floors. This effort is a part of the mayor's $32 million budget allocated to reduce the rat population by as much as 70 percent in the city's most infested neighborhoods: Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, the Grand Concourse area and Chinatown, East Village and the Lower East Side.
"We want to make the greatest city on earth the worst place in the world to be a rat," said Mayor de Blasio. "We are launching an all-out offensive to dramatically reduce the rat population at these developments and improve the quality of life for residents."
Among the targeted NYCHA developments are Brooklyn's Marcy Houses, Bushwick Houses and Hylan Houses.
Beginning this week, the city will start using dry ice to plug rat burrows at these developments. Additionally, NYCHA will designate a full-time exterminator at each of the developments to respond to maintenance requests and support dry ice treatments. This targeted pest management approach will attack rats' food sources and burrows, officials said. The city will also provide residents with smaller garbage bins that are compatible with the dimensions of NYCHA trash chutes to reduce trash from collecting elsewhere on the grounds and seal off dirt basements with concrete to keep rats out of buildings.
"Rat mitigation is a serious issue that impacts neighborhoods across New York City, and particularly our public housing developments," said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. "Dry ice treatments are absolutely one of the most meaningful ways we can achieve results. I thank the de Blasio administration for heeding the calls of our tenants and proceeding with renewed reduction efforts at Bushwick Houses, Hylan Houses, and Marcy Houses."
