Woman sounds alarm about bedbugs at Princess Towers

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This article was published 20/02/2019 (1889 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Brandon woman is raising concern after seeing what she describes as an “infestation” of bedbugs and cockroaches at Brandon’s Princess Towers.

While she was trying to help move her cousin, Judy, into affordable housing over the summer, Fisher says the two looked at a unit in Manitoba Housing’s Princess Towers. Fisher said Manitoba Housing was “forthright” about the problem and admitted the building was infested with bedbugs and cockroaches.

“That was disturbing to my cousin because of course her home where she had lived was not infested with bugs,” Fisher said.

While learning more about the building, Fisher said the person writing the tenancy agreement described the pests and used her fingernail to demonstrate the approximate size of them. She also gave them pamphlets on bed bugs and cockroaches and what can be done about them.

“She was making Judy fully aware that this was the issue there. We were both floored by it.”

While sitting in the office with her cousin, Fisher said she felt bite marks on her skin. Later she noticed red marks on her wrist.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Housing confirmed in a statement the department is aware of the bedbug problem in the building and has taken steps to address it.

“Manitoba Housing takes pest issues seriously and works diligently to address them, as we recognize these situations can be stressful for our tenants.”

Bedbugs were last found in a unit in November 2018, the spokesperson said, and preventative measures were taken. Once a report is filed about pests, treatment is scheduled and two more treatments take place.

“When we treat one unit with bedbugs, we also often treat those nearby as a way to prevent the spread,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson did not say whether the bedbug problem in Princess Towers has been fully resolved.

They said cockroaches were last reported in the building since January 2018.

One resident of the building next to Princess Towers, Park Apartments, who didn’t want to give his name, said both buildings have problems with bedbugs. He said he has small white traps under his bed and in the corners of his apartment that are supposed to trap bedbugs, which he described as “little buggers.”

The resident confirmed that Manitoba Housing conducts fumigation of the units and tenants are told to move their furniture into the centre of the room.

Glen Kruck, regional manager for the Community Health and Housing Association, said he hasn’t heard any specific concerns around Princess Towers having an issue with bedbugs, but said the problem is not unique to Manitoba Housing. A number of apartment buildings in Brandon, regardless of income level, have experienced the issue in the past.

Princess Towers has been largely empty for the last four years. Only eight of the building’s 76 units are currently occupied because of a problem with the building’s ventilation and exhaust system. Repairs to the system started in January 2018 and are scheduled to be completed over the summer.

Despite the repair, Fisher said the main problem she was concerned about with her cousin was the pests. Bedbug bites can cause painful, itchy bites from where they feed. The bugs mainly come out at night.

“I was expressing my concern to (Judy). She said ‘I don’t have a choice,’ and I know that for most people that’s how they would feel,” Fisher said.

“I think in the community, we all have a responsibility to make sure (people) aren’t living like that.”

Judy was supposed to move into the Princess Towers unit on Aug. 1, 2018 and paid a deposit, but opted not to because of the pest problem. Fisher said her cousin found other accommodations, which she was supposed to move into on Oct. 1, but died in September before that could happen.

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