City of London looks to crack down on creepy crawlies in low income buildings

A London organization that focuses on supporting people in poverty wants city hall to deal with chronic pest control issues.

A delegation from LifeSpin was surrounded by tenants from London Middlesex Community Housing apartments as they brought forward proposals for controlling bug infestations.

"Infestations have been proven to negatively impact one's mental health, confidence and quality of life,” was one of the messages Andrea Smith delivered to the Community and Protective Services Committee. Smith is a Kings University College student studying in the Social Justice and Peace program - she helped prepare the report for LifeSpin.

Included in the four LifeSpin recommendations is one that calls for the city to create its own vermin control service. Smith told the committee, "A systemic, city run approach would improve the effectiveness of treatment through record keeping and accountability. Other municipalities, such as Hamilton, have taken steps towards this."

However, Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis said that it is an impractical path for the city to go down, "All of that that goes along with having a unionized workforce, occupational health and safety standards, WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) standards, WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) training, all of those things that go into managing the pest control sprays that are required."

Deputy Mayor questions the proposal to have city staff do vermin control (Source: City of London)

Anne Beattie was one of those in the gallery, she lives at the London Middlesex Community Housing building at 30 Baseline Road in west London. Beattie said that pests are a constant nuisance for people in the building, even keeping some out of their apartments, "They would come down and sleep in the lobby. They would fall off their walkers and be injured. Others were [sick with] serious respiratory infections."

Beattie told CTV News that she's seen fellow tenants from the building become physically ill, and she's convinced that it's the result of being exposed to pests, "It is to such a point that it has affected several tenants that have ended up in hospital with serious medical conditions, totally being eaten alive in some cases."

Councillor Sam Trosow brought forward a motion based on the four LifeSpin recommendations, effectively directing staff to review the proposals.

LifeSpin representatives address Community and Protective Services Committee (Source: City of London)

Some of the recommendations are expected to be fully endorsed, like making the Tenant Support Fair held at city hall this past spring an annual event. Other recommendations are likely headed to the budgetary process, where they will face a tougher test.

According to LifeSpin Program Coordinator Meagan Ciufo, "If there's anything that can stop the spread between units and help tenants out, I think it's definitely worth exploring and something that we should do."

City staff said that they are already moving forward on a new enforcement program that should be outlined late this year or early next year. 

Merged Agenda Package - Community and Protective Services Committee, October 21, 2024 by ctvnewslondon on Scribd