Social housing infestation will take weeks to resolve

THUNDER BAY -- “Cockroaches!”

A 12-year-old boy screamed from the kitchen of his schoolmate’s great-grandmother’s apartment where he was sleeping over.

Seventy-three-year-old Carole Richmond and her great-grandson rushed in to find the bugs streaming across the side of the fridge onto the countertop. 

The boys vacuumed up hundreds of them, then placed the bag on the balcony and went back to their sleeping bags on the living room floor.

That first sighting occurred over the Family Day long weekend but officials with the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board estimate pest control companies they’ve hired won’t have exterminated the cockroaches at Richmond’s Regent Street apartment for another couple of weeks.

“I’ve been in contact constantly – every day – with Thunder Bay housing,” said Richmond’s daughter Jennifer Hill.

Hill has concluded cockroaches are entering the apartment through a hole that carries pipes to the kitchen sink. Glue traps in the apartment haven’t been changed for over a week and both women are suspicious of the extermination powder spread on the apartment’s surfaces.

“Emails have been sent, arrangements I thought were supposed to be done haven’t been done. This was sprayed on the 18th. They were supposed to come back in on (the 19th) to correct the problem and seal the hole. Since then, nothing has been done,” Hill said. 

Thunder Bay DSSAB director of housing services Ken Ranta pointed out the cockroach outbreak in the publicly-managed building is impacting fewer apartments than a similar incident last summer that took months to resolve.

Ranta is taking his lead from exterminators. While he expects the issue will be resolved within two weeks, he said sealing the pipe would only trap cockroaches inside Richmond’s apartment. They would then find or create other ways to get out, which could worsen or extend the situation. He said education for tenants is key to quickly attending to these kinds of outbreaks.

“It’s an urgent manner for the tenants impacted, of course. We understand that and that’s why we’ve always instructed them at the first sign, give us a call so we can jump on it right away,” he said.

Richmond moved into the apartment 18 years ago when 9 Regent Street was a seniors building. She’s living with Parkinson’s, cancer and has suffered both strokes and heart attacks. She claims the ceiling in her bathroom has been left unrepaired for three years following water damage to the upstairs apartment.  

“I’ve needed assisted living for the last year and a half. My daughter phones them constantly. I’m still on a list with 26 people ahead of me,” she said, running short of breath.  

“I need to get out of here, especially now. These last two weeks…”