Chicago’s Infamous Rat Problem Won’t Go Away Under Current Plan, Audit Finds

The city’s rodent abatement program is “unlikely to achieve longterm control of the rat population” due to an emphasis on reactive efforts rather than proactive solutions, according to a new report by the city’s watchdog. The audit — published Tuesday by the Office of Inspector General — analyzed the Department of Streets and Sanitation’s dedicated rat control program from July 2023 through July 2024, roughly tracking with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first year in office. The report found that the department’s Bureau of Rodent Control did not satisfy “key elements” of a common rat abatement approach known as Integrated Pest Management, which is endorsed by the federal government and Illinois Department of Public Health.

Specifically, that meant city workers during the audited time frame prioritized poisoning rats on a case-by-case basis rather than implementing more comprehensive and permanent solutions to curb their populations, such as monitoring sanitary conditions in specific areas and establishing thresholds for intervention, according to the report. The bureau “did not survey or monitor the root causes of rat infestation over time. It treated individual complaints to 311… as thresholds for action rather than targeting interventions based on overall impacts to quality of life, economic activity or public health,” according to the report.

The city’s “primary goal was to poison rats in response to complaints rather than addressing the root causes of rat infestations while using poison as a last resort.” The report does stress that the public plays an important role in rat abatement by keeping alleys and other spaces free of garbage, dog waste and additional refuse. It also notes that the sanitation department said it has made improvements to its rat abatement program since the investigation was completed two years ago. While the audit didn’t look at the abatement efforts’ impact on rat populations, rat complaints made to the city have started trending downward after spiking during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to data analyzed as part of a Block Club Chicago and Illinois Answers Project investigation published in summer 2023, shortly after the inspector general audit investigation began, Chicagoans logged about 35,000 rat complaints in 2010 and 41,000 in 2019. In 2020, the number rose to 54,000 and then surged to almost 66,000 in 2021 before dropping to a…