Public housing tenants give bag of cockroaches from Walnut St. building to housing officials

Residents of a building operated by London and Middlesex Community Housing (LMCH) rallied Tuesday to draw attention to what they say have been chronic issues of disrepair and pests at the aging property, located west of the city's downtown.

Sharon Villeneuve has lived at 85 Walnut St. for roughly 10 years, and was among those seen picketing along nearby Riverside Drive with representatives from ACORN, the tenant advocacy group, drawing supportive honks from passing motorists and a few transit drivers.

"Since the time I originally moved in the building, unfortunately, in a lot of ways, it's gone downhill," Villeneuve told CBC News. "Our major concerns are pest control, maintenance, or lack of maintenance, and air quality and ventilation issues that's really affecting people's health and their mental well-being."

Villeneuve serves as secretary of a tenant association formed by residents at the building, and leads a separate tenant union formed with ACORN. On Tuesday, she presented building management with a letter addressed to LMCH's CEO, Paul Chisholm, calling for a meeting to discuss tenant issues. 

Two baggies of bedbugs and cockroaches, all collected from the building over the last month, were also handed over to highlight ineffective pest management, ACORN says.

Another tenant, Linda Thompson, has lived at the building for 13 years, the last two with an unwelcome roommate — mice. Thompson said the critters took up residence in her stove fan duct after an outdoor exhaust cover was removed but not replaced. 

"I never had trouble until they uncovered that vent outside. That's when, I guess, they decided, 'why not? Free rent? I'll move in,'" she said. Since then, the mice have chewed on electrical wiring and left droppings, which had been falling onto her stove before a friend stepped in to add a metal mesh, she said.

LMCH addressed the cockroaches, which used to be an issue, but the mice remain "out of control," she said. LMCH told her Tuesday it would be able to address the problem at the end of the month, she said.

"I'm a good tenant. I keep the front of my garden beautiful. I love my little apartment. I don't want to move from here, I just want the mice removed." 

The 14-storey, 232-unit high-rise was built in the mid-1970s and provides affordable housing to seniors, said LMCH, the city-owned and funded agency which operates nearly 3,300 rent-geared-to-income units in 32 properties, most of which are over 50-years-old.

Complaints about cleaning, maintenance and pests have plagued its buildings for years. According to LMHC figures, roughly one-third of buildings had bedbugs, cockroaches and other pests as of late last year. 

Matt Senechal, communications manager with LMCH, said the infestation rate at 85 Walnut had fallen from 33 per cent at the end of 2024 to 22 per cent last month after a second pest control provider was brought on in October.

During the rally, Senechal told Villeneuve and other tenants that they would be hearing from LMHC soon.

"What we're doing is just reviewing some of our internal processes. Really, it's just about staying in communication with the tenant," he said. "To get to a point where you need a protest is unfortunate … We want to make sure that we are moving forward in a collaborative approach."

Many challenges are infrastructure-based due to building age, which allows pests to move easier between units, he said.

LMCH has been making upgrades into its housing stock, he said, adding units were being renovated "down to the studs" and retrofitted with accessibility improvements. On Tuesday, crews could be seen working inside a ground floor unit.

Improved communication has also seen a drop in tenants refusing to let pest control personnel into their units, he said.

Safety has also been a concern in LMCH buildings. Last year, police investigated three separate homicides and a shooting at public housing properties. Senechal said LMCH has added staff to beef up CCTV monitoring and its community safety unit.

Last year, the anti-poverty agency LifeSpin called on city council to address the problem of persistent bedbug and cockroach infestations at LMCH buildings by setting up its own bug extermination program pilot.

The group also urged the city to restore funding, cut during the previous budget cycle, to an extreme cleaning program which helped low-income tenants prepare units for pest control spraying. It also offered supports for people prone to hoarding or leaving their living spaces dangerously cluttered.

In November, council rejected the idea of a city-run pest control team 3-12, but voted 8-7 to bring the extreme clean program to budget talks. Councillors also voted to examine property standards bylaws with the aim of enhancing enforcement.

Council later voted to allocate $400,000 to VHA Home Healthcare for its extreme cleaning program.