A downtown housing complex has been crawling with a chronic bedbug infestation for nearly three years, even though Manitoba Housing has spent more than a quarter of a million dollars trying to stop it.
The beastly bugs, which often leave dime-size welts all over the body, first appeared at the 185 Smith St. building in 2004 in 73 suites.
As of last week, 40 suites were still infested with bedbugs.
Since 2004, Manitoba Housing has spent nearly $260,000 fumigating suites in the building, which residents say has done little to stop the spread of the mattress-loving mites. Manitoba Housing has never evacuated the entire building for fumigation, saying it's too difficult a process.
"I don't think they're ever going to solve this," resident Gary Durack said. "This is not going to stop. They're throwing away money coming here and spraying."
John Snezyk, manager of maintenance operations for Manitoba Housing, defended Manitoba Housing's extermination tactics and said they are still working to correct the outbreak.
The housing authority devised a plan in 2004 to fumigate infected suites and their immediate neighbours, along with doing two followup sprayings within the following two weeks. Snezyk said they are now working on a pilot project to seal the cracks in the walls of four suites, to see whether it might prevent the bugs from migrating through the building.
"It's not that it didn't work, it's just an ongoing problem," he said. "We're working diligently and we take the problem very seriously."
Lincoln Poulin, general manager of Poulin's Pest Control Services, said his company has an ongoing contract with Manitoba Housing but was asked not to discuss the details of how they spray and how much money they are receiving per suite. However, Poulin acknowledged there are persistent problems with the current project.
"I can say there are some challenges," he said.
In a private rental suite, the Residential Tenancies Branch holds a landlord accountable for rodents and other pests. If the landlord does not eradicate the pest problem, the tenant can complain to public health authorities or terminate their rental contract.
Durack said Smith Street residents are entitled to the same kind of health protection, and shouldn't have to live with constant fumigation and worry about bedbugs.
Winnipeg Regional Health Authority medical officer Dr. Margaret Fast said the tiny bugs don't spread disease, but scratching the itchy bites can lead to infection. Although there is no way to minimize the risk of being bitten once bedbugs are in the home, Fast said people can avoid getting them in the first place by vacuuming crevices in second-hand furniture.
Snezyk said part of the problem is tenants need to take more responsibility to help stop the outbreak. Often, he said, residents are too embarrassed to report a bedbug sighting in their suite. In other instances, he said tenants have picked up infected furniture thrown out by other residents and taken it to their suite.
Manitoba Housing is posting reminders and holding meetings with tenants to encourage them to report a bedbug sighting immediately and not to pick up any furniture thrown away by other residents. Sticky cardboard slates sit in every suite, underneath lobby chairs and in the building's corners to trap wandering bedbugs and notify exterminators more spraying is needed.
Longtime resident John, who didn't wanted his last name used, said he's become so paranoid about bugs crawling on him he sometimes gets up in the middle of the night and checks his mattress, which is already double-wrapped in plastic, until he's satisfied it's bug-free.
jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca
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