A Crown Heights woman says she no longer feels safe moving freely around her own apartment after rats repeatedly invaded her home.

Desiree Ali, who lives at 1722 Union St., says she recently trapped two large rats after they were seen running through her kitchen and living room. Despite trying sticky traps and glue boards, she says the rodents kept coming back.

"They are so big. If you have a cat in here, the cat going to run from this rats," Ali said. "We try using stickers and bind traps, but it didn't work. We have to order cages."

Ali says an exterminator visited earlier this month, but she still finds golf ball-sized holes beneath her kitchen cabinets where she believes the rats are entering.

She says they've chewed through bags of food, forcing her to store groceries in stacked plastic containers and boxes, making it difficult to move around her apartment.

"I'm afraid to be sitting out here. I cannot eat. I'm afraid to go to the washroom. I'm confined to my room 24/7," she said.

The complaints extend beyond one apartment. City records show 88 tenant complaints and 33 HPD violations have been issued at the building over the past two years. Some residents say the infestation has become so severe they've brought cats into the building in hopes of keeping the rodents away.

"There's an invasion. Like, we hear them in the walls," tenant Migdalia said. "We call 311. I have reported to the Department of Health. They want to see the actual rat."

Residents say the problems don't end with rodents. Fly traps now hang throughout the building, and several tenants say the infestation worsened after a man's skeletal remains were discovered inside a sofa on the building's fourth floor on July 7.

"You can still smell the stench," tenant Leila said. "We have been calling management for months - they just give us flycatchers. You can hear the rats in the walls."

News 12 spoke with the building's landlord, Akiva Metal, who said an exterminator is scheduled to return to the property. While acknowledging the ongoing pest issues, Metal said the problem extends beyond the building itself.

"We can send pest control, we can try. But the super has been telling me it's the whole block. The facing the matter is - we plugged as many holes as possible," Metal said.

After inspecting Ali's apartment, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development told News 12 it issued violations for mice and cockroaches and said it "will continue using every enforcement tool available" to ensure the landlord meets the obligation to keep the building safe and livable.

For Ali and her neighbors, they hope those efforts finally bring lasting relief from a problem they say has disrupted daily life for far too long.