'I'm a prisoner in my home.' Longwood tenant claims rodents run rampant inside apartment
A woman in Longwood says she has been living with rodents in her apartment for more than a decade.
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A rodent found inside a bag of cereal has become a normal sight for Kalimah Al-Hamid.
"The vermins are running all over my house. They stealing our food," Al-Hamid said, "They're in our beds."
Other videos she shared with News 12 show mice scurrying around her hallways.
"I'm scared," she says.
She says she catches three to four rodents a night.
"I feel like I'm a prisoner in my home," Al-Hamid said. "I want to be outside more. And I can't be in the heat because I'm going through chemo."
She has blood cancer and gets treatment once a week. And she says she is afraid of the impacts the animals could have on her health.
"When you start to see them on your countertops, in your stove. You put your food down, eating your bread, your crackers," Al-Hamid said. "It's no way to live."
The rodents in her apartment also disturb her daughter and her son with autism.
"He's up night and day. We're not sleeping," she said. "They're jumping on us. These ones are more aggressive"
This isn't a new problem for her. News 12 cameras were at her Longwood apartment 14 years ago. She says nothing has been done to fix this issue.
She's lived in the building for 26 years, and is now begging her landlord to give her a new place to live.
"I want out of your development," she said. "Give me my family a new start."
Wavecrest management responded to News 12 and claimed an exterminator had treated areas of the apartment on July 9. The statement to News 12 reads:
"Wavecrest’s number one priority is the wellbeing of our residents. On Thursday, July 9, our third-party exterminator sealed and treated the areas of the apartment that were accessible. Once alerted of any issues with vermin, our contracted exterminator is contacted immediately to conduct a full extermination, as needed."
