Following three years of negotiations among landlords, residents, advocates and municipal officials, New Hampshire’s state legislature passed landmark legislation making bed bug infestations a violation of the state’s minimum housing quality standards. H.B. 482, which Governor Maggie Hassan (D) signed into law on June 4, outlines landlord and resident responsibilities in remediation efforts. The American Friends Service Committee of New Hampshire (AFSC) and Housing Action New Hampshire (HANH), an NLIHC State Coalition Partner, attribute the victory to an unprecedented partnership between landlords and residents to put an end to infestations plaguing rental housing units across the state.As with many other states, New Hampshire experienced a resurgence of bed bug infestations in recent years. They became an increasing problem, especially as state landlord-tenant and housing quality standards law did not provide parameters for approaching the issue effectively. The burden to whom remediation fell—landlord or resident—was unclear, often leading to no resolution. Unsettled infestations resulted in physical and mental anguish, loss of sleep and financial distress for residents; some disposed of furniture or incurred moving costs to obtain relief. Landlords, many of whom covered treatment costs, suffered financially because they were unaware of the need for integrated pest management techniques.In January 2009, an immigrant community leader approached AFSC, urgently seeking assistance for residents living in a fully infested apartment building in Manchester. Residents of the 20-unit complex, most of them refugees and recent arrivals to the United States, were sleeping outside to avoid being bitten. Children reportedly fell asleep at school because they could not get rest at home; in one case, a mother of a newborn sought emergency shelter to avoid bringing her child into an infested home. At the same time, the landlord had spent significant financial resources on efforts to remediate, and blamed the lack of success on residents not taking adequate measures to prevent pests from returning. Full-scale involvement by AFSC and several partners in the Manchester community served as a case study to address the infestations statewide. The informal coalition discovered that the pest control company used by the landlord was unaware of proper extermination. Advocates moved residents out of the complex and hired a certified bed bug exterminator to address the issue. During that time, health officials, landlords, residents, housing advocates, hotel managers, pest control professionals, school social workers and mental health providers formed the Bed Bug Action Committee to identify intervention and prevention best practices. The group developed recommendations to address the problem proactively, including landlord training to provide residents with basic bed bug education, such as proper disposal of affected mattresses and furniture. In 2011, it held New Hampshire Bites Back, the state’s first education and prevention conference about bed bug infestation.The committee partnered with HANH in 2012 to advance legislation to revise the landlord-tenant law and clarify responsibility for remediation and the circumstances. The groups reviewed cases to determine common themes that landlords and residents included in their complaints. Many meetings were held with diverse parties to determine what the statute should include. The draft legislation was revisited and revised multiple times until all parties agreed with its content. Advocates found a champion in State Representative Pat Long (D), who introduced H.B. 482 in January 2013. Legislators were so impressed with the residents’ and landlords’ ability to work through their differences that both the House and Senate passed the legislation with no meaningful opposition. Among other provisions, the new law prohibits landlords from failing to investigate and take responsible measures to remediate bed bug infestation; it allows residents to go to court to get an order requiring remediation. In addition, residents are prohibited from failing to prepare their apartments for remediation; landlords have the option to get a court order requiring the resident to prepare the unit or evict the resident for failing to do so. The law also gives clear guidance to courts on how to determine whether residents caused an infestation, and it allows landlords to bill residents for the cost of remediation if the latter are at fault. “This was a fruitful partnership,” said Maggie Fogarty of the AFSC. “We told our legislators that bed bugs brought together some strange bedfellows to craft good policy and an effective tool for remediation of this challenging pest. We hope that the relationships between landlords and resident advocates, which have been strengthened in this process, will serve us well as we tackle other conditions and issues that plague lower cost rental housing in our cities.”For more information, contact Maggie Fogarty at [email protected]