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Detroit mother of three says her children forced to live amidst pest infestation

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Brittany has lived in this New Center Pavilion apartment for the past five years, but says over the last two, finding ways to keep pests out has been consuming her life.

She keeps duck tape on a door in the kitchen to keep mice from coming in. Meanwhile, a towel sits scrunched at the front door to keep roaches from roaming. 

Around the unit, 7 Action News cameras find mice droppings and holes in the walls where mice come in and out.

The building itself has a housing assistance payment contract with HUD, a government authority which subsidizes rental costs for families in need.

But the property company that’s responsible for day to day maintenance is called Legacy LLC.

The mother of three says she reported the problem to them on countless occasions, but no exterminator ever came. 

Instead she says she got a flyer in the mail from the company asking residents to remove all signs of mice and dead bugs ahead of a HUD inspection.

For cooperating they were offered a $25 dollar gift card.

So 7's taking action team got on the case, reaching out to the property group, their legal team telling us the conditions described simply weren’t true.

7 continued, this time questioning HUD itself. The housing authority declined to talk to us on camera but did respond, getting an inspector out to the building immediately.

The results? Several violations for conditions including “pest infestation and substandard repairs.”

HUD gave the building 60 days to make it right. Today, the housing authority says “all noted deficiencies” have been “corrected”

Meanwhile, we're told Legacy LLC, the management company in charge, has “been removed.”

HUD says they’re going to do regular check ups going forward.

As for Brittany, she and her family moved out of the building before the deficiencies were brought up to code. 

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