Bed bugs were the order of the day when Yukon Housing Corporation officials met with residents of a Whitehorse seniors’ complex on Jan. 24.
The meeting, held in a common room at 600 College Drive, brought together the building manager, tenant relations manager and a pest control expert to introduce the building’s bed bug issues to the fewer than two dozen tenants present.
The tenants received an introduction to bed bugs, how to deal with bed bugs and possible transmission routes in the building.
The building manager said Yukon Housing Corporation is trying to investigate where the bed bugs come from.
“Where we see bugs, we treat them,” the building manager said. “We mitigate… where we can.”
The pest control expert said he didn’t find any accumulations of bed bugs in the building. He said the bed bug problem isn’t limited to this building or the Yukon Housing Corporation residences — it’s a Canada-wide problem.
The News was invited to meet with some of the building’s tenants who were fed up with bed bugs on December 23, 2022. The tenants present at the meeting asked their landlord to address their concerns immediately. They determined how much money, time and energy was expended to eradicate and prevent the spread of bed bugs. Some said they slept with the lights on to limit insect activity at night.
“It’s really miserable,” said Ginny Prins, one of the tenants. “Life changes because of bed bugs.”
In October, the news reported swift action taken to deal with potential bed bugs in the Yukon State House. At the time, the Yukon NDP called on the Yukon government to support these efforts by taking more expeditious action against bed bugs in Yukon Housing Corporation buildings.
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Tenants are asking Yukon Housing Corp. to address concerns immediately
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
