Emergency bedbug treatment costs plunge in Halifax public housing

A trial bedbug prevention program seems to be paying off for Halifax's public housing authority, whose residents saythe pests have caused major problems in recent years.

MetropolitanRegional Housing Authority, which runs several dozen residences for low-income people, is renovating all its buildings and adding extra staff to try to controlbedbugs for good.

In the three seniorsbuildings with extra staff, costs of emergency fumigation dropped by more than 95 per cent in roughly 18 months,a CBC Nova Scotiainvestigationshows.

SurjipSoin has lived in one of thepublic housing buildings with her husband for eight years with no issues until six months ago.

That's when thebugs started biting at night.

"Very bad things I have experienced with the bugs, so I don't want them again," Soin said, as cleaners replaced baseboards and moved furniture in her apartment.

"Because I had too much rashes on my body, I went to many times emergency.They gave me injections like antibotics."

Preventative measures cut fumigation costs

CBC Nova Scotia analyzed three years of purchase orders for emergency bedbug inspections and fumigation treatments, obtainedthrough Nova Scotia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The housing authority spent almost $143,000 on the treatments above and beyond its standard pest control contracts in 2012/2013.

That cost has dropped by almost half since then, the analysis shows, which the housing authority's executive director attributes to preventative renovations.

JanetBurt-Gerranssaid the housing authority also launched a pilot project in the fall of 2014 to add five-person bedbugteams to three buildings.

"That takes the form of helping people who might have a physical disability, can't lift items out of the way, can't move furniture out of the way," she said.

"There are certainly some supports around some mental illnesses, cluttering, and having too many items in the unit in order to be able to properly treat the unit."

'We really want to deal with this issue'

Two of the buildings in the trial,H.P.MckeenManor in Halifax andAlderneyManor in Dartmouth, had been paying tens of thousands of dollars for pesticide sprayingbefore the cleaning teams were added.

The bedbug issue at the third, JosephHowe Manor in Halifax,wasn't as severe, but people who lived there pushed forprevention, Burt-Gerrans said.

"Residents played a significant role in helping to bring the pilot project forward," shesaid.

The extra staff also help with education and outreach, she said.

"It's really important that people understand that we really want to deal with this issue," Burt-Gerranssaid."Coming to us to let us know that you have a problem is not going to get you in trouble. We will come and help."

New baseboards, renovations may prevent bedbugs

In the meantime, the authority has started renovating all its buildings to try and slow the spread of bedbugs, she said.

Ahungry bedbugcan travel hundreds of metres in search of itsnext blood meal.

So they havesealed nooks, crannies and holes between apartments.

"They'll start to get into the wall void," Burt-Gerrans said. "They'll travel through the wall void in search of the next unit and then the next unit. They can certainly travel between floors."

In the past year, the housing authorityhas installed approximately 7.6 kilometres of new baseboards to seal wall spaces where bedbugs like to hide. It has atender out to install more than twicethat amount in the coming year.

These baseboards are designed to stopbedbugs. They're madeof clear pine to avoid knotholes, heavilycaulked, and coated in a rubberizedpaint.

The baseboards will hopefully trap any hidden bedbugs inside a buildings walls and hopefully prevent future infestations.

Locations of Metropolitan Regional Housing Authority facilities that had emergency bedbug treatments, 2012-2015

CBC figures 'a pleasant surprise'

Soin'sapartmenthas been sprayed and new baseboards are being installed this week.

"They will not bother us again, we hope 100 per cent, we hope,"Soinsaid.

The CBC figures showing reducedemergency treatment costs cameas a pleasant surprise to the housing authority, Burt-Gerranssaid.

"I was very excited.I think 'awesome'was one of the words that I was using," shesaid.

"We haven't had a chance to dig into our own data in the way that you were able to do. Itreally demonstrated in a pretty stark way the effect of the program that we're putting in place."

Not just public housing

Some public housing residents feel stigmatized because of an association with bedbugs sometimes stopping them from coming forward, Burt-Gerrans said.

Bedbugs aren't just a problem for public housing, she said, but there's more publicity because the housing authority's records are open to public scrutiny.

• Bedbug mythsdebunked by CBC's Doc Zone

"People travelling first class ... can transmit and carry bedbugs. Four star hotels in New York City have issues with bedbugs," she said.

"It's a problem that is growing and becoming more common, and is certainly not in any way associated with any particular demographics or portion of society."

$1M bill 'worth it'

The authority hopesthe investment pays off. The costof extra staffing, plus the authority-wide renovations and the upcoming tenders, will soon exceed $1 million, Burt-Gerrans said.

The pilot projectwas recently expanded to Sunrise Manor and Gordon B.IsnorManor, shesaid.

The fight against bedbugs isn't close to being over, but Burt-Gerranssaidshe thinks the housing authority is heading in the right direction.

"This is worth it because we're making a real difference in the lifeof people that live in our buildings."