By Natalie Glister
Ottawa Community Housing (OCH) is set to launch a new pest control management program- something many residents say is long overdue.
The 15,000-unit subsidized housing corporation is shifting its pest control protocol from reactive to proactive by increasing staff and tenant education, in a bid to stop infestation problems before they start.
Ron Larkin, CEO of OCH, says infestation problems often begin with the tenants. He says pests like cockroaches, bed bugs, and other insects are brought in by tenants and the problem spreads quickly. He says a lack of cleanliness in the units can contribute to the problem.
“We’ve got 15,000 households, and the housekeeping standards vary,” he says. “If the problem is not dealt with quickly, it spreads.”
This is the ideal time to be dealing with infestation issues. A report submitted to the OCH Board of Directors in October estimated that the cost for pest control treatment will reach $250,000 by the end of 2007. Last year, costs equaled $191,000.
Resident Jennifer Hughes says she sees about three cockroaches a day. Her whole building, on Ramsey Crescent, is infested, she says.
“It’s embarrassing when my friends come over. Sometimes I tell them, ‘If you don’t want to come over, you don’t have to. I don’t like being here either’,” she says.
The pest control problem is a constant pain, she says. She has to wash her dishes twice – once when she’s finished with them, and once more before she eats, in case a cockroach or other pest crawled over them in the cupboard.
“I don’t like it, but I’ve learned to tolerate it,” she says. “I just tell myself, It’s just a trashy building.”
Larkin says he thinks issues like these will be resolved by implementing the new approach, which consists mostly of education.
However, he is optimistic that tenants and management can work together and get rid of the problem.
According to the OCH report to the board of directors, the new plan consists of three primary factors: the development of documentation and literature for all aspects of the program; staff and tenant education and information not only on the program to be implemented, but on the specific subject matter as well; and data collection, compilation, and analysis to improve decision making. These new protocols will be implemented in addition to the current approach of treating reported problems with gels and pesticides.
David Saunders, owner of Paramount Pest Control, has been working in the extermination business for 18 years. He says while awareness is a key factor in stopping infestations, the best thing to do is to put a treatment in the unit so the problem won’t start.
The best treatment is a protein-based gel with a mild poison in it, which is an attractant for cockroaches, he says.
“If a problem started, this would fix it right away,” he says. He says the only drawback to this treatment is its cost.
Still, Saunders says the value of education can’t be overlooked, especially in community housing.
“Often, people in public housing aren’t well-versed in how to kill them, due to their limited resources,” he says.
He says sanitation may be another problem in some low-income housing units.
Saunders says he tries to minimize his use of pesticides, which are bad for the environment.
“There’s no sense in doing something that’s not going to do anything and hurt the environment,” he says.
Larkin says minimizing pesticide use is a key element of the new pest control strategy.
“We’re going to strive to get away from the use of pesticides, to the extent that we can,” he says. He says the pesticides they use have been approved by Health Canada.
Tenant education seminars and staff training are expected to begin in early 2008.