Cockroach problem bugs Manitoba Housing tenant

Manitoba Housing says it is doing what it can to address a cockroach infestation inside a downtown Winnipeg apartment building.

Cockroaches, dead and alive, have been showing upin trapsin Tracy Richardson's suite in the Kennedy Street housing complex for months.

"They put these monitoring pads all over the apartment," she told CBC News on Tuesday, as she spotted a cockroach squirming on one trap in the kitchen.

Richardson said the insects are everywhere in the suite, even in her young daughter's room.

"She sees a cockroach, she goes and gets a fly swatter, and she swats at it. Or, she'll sit there and knock it around like the cats do," she said.

The infestation is not limited to Richardson's suite traps that were placedin hallways and the stairwellshave been filling up with cockroaches.

Another tenant in the same building showed CBC News how she tapes her door closed each day, in an effort to stopthe insects from entering her suite.

Crews using spray, bait

Manitoba Housing says cockroaches have been an issue in that particular building since the spring of 2010.

Dave Funk, the housing agency's director of pest management, said crews are using spray and bait to try and get rid of the insects.

"We are seeing dead and live activity, which means that what we are doing for treatment is having some effect on the place," Funk said Wednesday.

Some exterminators told CBC News that getting rid of cockroaches is extremely difficult, but Funk said Manitoba Housing is sticking with its plan.

"Many exterminators will have their own methods to eradication of cockroaches. Some will vacuum in front of treatment and then treat the actual location," he said.

"At Housing here, we don't avail ourselves to that process."

Funk said the cockroach problem is improving and he wants tenants to be patient until the process is finished.

Richardson said she is moving out at the end of this month, but she is worried about the tenants who remain there.

"I'm not in a Third World country. I'm here in Canada," she said. "Yeah, I don't think we should have to live with cockroaches."