When treating multi family apartments with non cooperative tenants the exterminator is often limited in his/her ability to do a good job. Poor results are inevitable. Therefore the exterminator has little motivation to go the extra mile in these settings. If poor results are inevitable why should the exterminator do a diligent time consuming job? This is the temptation of the exterminator. And this is why some public housing suites are treated in 10 minutes or less – the result is the same with 10 minute treatment or a 100 minute treatment. Why waste time?
It is easy to criticize the exterminator for being less than thorough but the lion’s share of the blame for not getting rid of the bed bugs lies with the tenant. In private settings the landlord would evict the lazy tenant. In public housing the road to eviction is much more difficult. Difficult tenants have to live somewhere and it is cheaper to house them in public housing than in shelters, hotels, hospitals, or jail (private landlords will have nothing to do with these folks). Therefore the uncooperative tenants and the less than diligent exterminator continue their lethargic symbiotic dance. Keeping the bugs down to a dull roar is as good as it gets.