Senior’s family slams bedbug reaction

The family of a senior who left his Manitoba Housing apartment after two years of bedbug infestations is accusing the provincial body of being ineffectual and irresponsible in its treatment of the persistent pests.

The senior had lived at the Columbus Courts building at 253 Edgeland Blvd., since 2011, but when he began getting severe skin rashes all over his body about two years ago, his son began to worry.

They found out the 14-storey building was being sprayed for bedbugs after an infestation had impacted several units. After multiple rounds of pesticide treatments, the problem has not subsided, the son told the Free Press.

“They come in, they spray pesticides and then they leave. And it’s been completely ineffectual,” he said. “My dad keeps seeing the bedbugs even the day after the treatments and continuously, they’ve just gotten worse and worse.”

The father and son asked that their names not be published in the Free Press, citing the stigma around bedbug infestations. The father is in his early 70s, still working, and an immigrant to Canada with a language barrier.

When he visited his father, the son said he regularly saw bedbug droppings and carcasses in the unit and there was evidence that the pests were travelling through cracks in the walls and electrical sockets.

The father was able to move out of the building recently and is now in a clean, safe apartment. But the years of treatments and eventual move were hard on him, his son said, and he is now paying double the rent he used to, “a real financial hardship.”

The son said he’s worried that after the most recent round of pesticide treatment, the unit will be deemed bedbug-free, a new tenant will be moved in and the infestation will persist.

“If you empty a unit of a person and then you spray pesticides in it, the bedbugs are not going to go there. But as soon as you move in a new tenant, they’re going to come back and so this unit is most likely going to get advertised as bedbug-free in a few months, but whoever moves in there is going to have these pests coming into their home,” he said. “I found that very upsetting.”

“There’s a reason why they’re tasked with housing people in need, and the idea that they can’t figure out how to get rid of… bugs, to me feels just wrong.”

He described Manitoba Housing’s response as an “irresponsible” lack of aggressive action, particularly after years of treatment.

“There’s a reason why they’re tasked with housing people in need, and the idea that they can’t figure out how to get rid of… bugs, to me feels just wrong,” he said.

“It feels like it’s a matter of putting in resources and time, and they’ve just been happy to just be doing the same treatments for two years that haven’t done anything.”

Manitoba Housing took over the 107-unit property in July 2024 and has had pesticide treatments on a monthly basis since, a provincial spokesperson said.

Manitoba Housing does not allow tenants to hire their own pest-treatment companies under Environment Act regulations. As Manitoba Housing is a Crown corporation, chemicals used in treating its buildings have to be approved through those regulations.

A spokesperson for Housing Minister Bernadette Smith said she encouraged any residents in need of support to access the province’s community pest-control grant program, launched last year, which provides financial assistance for non-profits and individual tenants preparing units for treatment.

“Our government is committed to making Manitoba Housing buildings accessible, dignified and safe places to live and we are working hard to control the pest problem in the affected units of 253 Edgeland,” the spokesperson said in an email.

There are nine units currently accessing the grant program.

“People are just feeling extremely unsafe, they’re feeling extremely frustrated.”

Progressive Conservative housing critic Jeff Bereza said Manitoba Housing buildings in his Portage la Prairie constituency and surrounding areas have struggled with bedbug infestations in recent years.

He said “government intermingling” in seniors’ buildings had created problems — not just with pests, but with new tenants moving into the buildings and engaging in dangerous activity.

“People are just feeling extremely unsafe, they’re feeling extremely frustrated, and this is just another situation (where) you can’t move one problem from one place to the other and expect it to go away,” he said.

Lynne Fernandez, the co-chair of advocacy group Right to Housing’s seniors working group, said the group has heard about bedbug issues in the Edgeland building. The seniors they’ve spoken with, she said, want more information from Manitoba Housing.

“We know it’s a problem there, and the tenants, they want communication, they want updates, they want to know what’s being done, they want some signal that somebody cares, basically,” she said.

A government spokesperson said building management has an office on the main floor.

While some seniors are able to move or have family supports, that is not the experience of everyone living in the building, she said.

“My question would be, what supports are there for people who are being traumatized by bedbugs and don’t have family to help them?”

In 2025 to 2026, Manitoba Housing provided just over 20,000 pest treatments to units across the province.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca