Hamilton hasn't responded to pest complaints for over 4 years. 'People can't take it anymore,' tenant says

CBC Hamilton is investigating the living conditions that tenants face and what responsibility the city has to uphold property standards. This is Part 1 of a three-part series. Parts 2 and 3 will run in the coming weeks.

The cockroach and bedbug infestations in Tammy Brown's Hamilton apartment have all but destroyed her life, she says.

Roaches have taken over her fridge and stove, contaminating her food and making it impossible to cook for her two adult daughters, one of whom lives with a disability, and her four-year-old grandson. 

Brown has thrown out nearly all their clothes and furniture in an effort to rid her home of the pests.

"We have nothing left," she said. 

Brown has called the city four times in under a year, begging for it to order the landlord at 221 Melvin Ave. to fix the pest problems.

She said neither public health nor bylaw has ever responded. 

"Nobody from the city gives a shit," she said. "Pardon my French, but the job is not being done." 

There's a reason she hasn't heard back. The City of Hamilton isn't enforcing its own pest control rules — and hasn't for over four years, staff told CBC Hamilton.

That means landlords who fail to keep buildings free of cockroaches, bedbugs or rats, as required under the city's property standards bylaw, haven't faced bylaw orders or fees.

Kevin McDonald, a city public health director who oversees the healthy environments division, said in an interview the decision to pause pest control happened in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, when staff were reassigned to respond to the emergency. 

Pest control was determined to be a low priority at that time, McDonald said. The public was notified of the change through a report prepared for the Board of Health and the previous mayor in June 2020.

In that report, it does not list services — like pest control enforcement — that were put on hold, but rather services that would continue. Pest control was not on the list.

Public health lifted its state of emergency related to COVID-19 over a year ago.