New Program Addresses Rats in Baltimore's Public Housing

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh announced the Healthy Elimination of All Pests Longterm (HEAL), a program aimed at ridding Baltimore’s thousands of public housing units of rats. (Baltimore’s rodent problems are the focus of the newly released documentary “Rat Film”)

As reported by the Baltimore Sun, Pugh said her program will take a new approach by improving the collaboration between the Housing Authority, the Department of Public Works and the Department of Health, a strategy similar to the one she has touted to fight crime.

The article noted that under Pugh’s new program the city’s 16 city public housing developments will receive rodent and cockroach treatment by a private contractor quarterly and be inspected by teams from the public works Rat Rubout unit three times a year.

Code enforcement crews and others from public works will clean storm drains and other areas around public housing developments. The program will be highlighted at tenant council meetings, where officials will tell residents how they can contribute.

The city will use about $200,000 from a federal grant for the effort over the next year, in addition to funding services already paid for in the budgets of the agencies involved.

Read the entire article.

Source: Baltimore Sun