Q&A: How the city is addressing chronic pest infestations at public housing buildings [Video]

Roughly one-third of buildings operated by London and Middlesex Community Housing are infested with bedbugs, cockroaches and other pests, according to the agency’s own figures.

London city staff say they’ve now brought a new pest control company to deal with the issues. 

The local anti-poverty group LifeSpin has been calling on London city hall to do more to address the persistent infestations in the city’s public housing buildings by funding a program to help vulnerable tenants prepare their units for spraying, enhance protocols for bug spraying and explore the possibility of a municipally-run bug extermination program.

LifeSpin’s requests were debated at a city council meeting on Tuesday, where Councillors voted 8-7 to refer LifeSpin’s Extreme Clean funding request for consideration in the upcoming budget update, but shot down the idea of a city-run extermination program.

There Ward 4 Coun. Susan Stevenson said a new pest treatment company had been brought …