For years, people who live in public housing across the province have complained about the state of some of the buildings, including the fact many units are filled with bedbugs and mice.
“You have people, generation upon generation living in low income housing or living off social assistance and they believe it’s ok. As a toddler, they see a mouse run across the kitchen and they think that’s normal. This is not normal,” said Jodi Brown, who lives in a public housing unit.
On Wednesday, Housing Nova Scotia announced they would be pouring more money into public housing to try and curb unwanted pests.
The funding comes after several public demonstrations and protests, calling on the provincial government to take action.
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Housing Nova Scotia says they have developed new methods to help control vermin in public housing.
“We’ve worked on our process we use, particularly around things like bed bugs, and we’ve accelerated the work we’re doing,” said Dan Troke, President, CEO, Housing Nova Scotia.
“Removing baseboards, putting diatomaceous earth in the baseboards, sealing those baseboards, filling different holes and essentially doubling up your efforts. But its not like spraying where its one shot and then something would occur, this is a very active way of dealing with some of these pests.”
In total, an additional $1.6 million dollars will be spent to retrofit housing units.
Those who live in public housing say the additional funding announced by Housing Nova Scotia sounds great, but simply isn’t enough to make a difference in the lives of people who have to live there.
“I don’t think 1.6 million would even cover Spryfield,” said Brown.
She doesn’t think officials really understand how bad the problems are in public housing units.
“I don’t believe the government really knows what they’re getting into. They said they were going to do inspections on the homes, but I believe when they start doing the inspections, they are going to realize they can’t go to the next home, because this home needs to be taken care of right now”
Housing Nova Scotia hopes to have 700 low income housing units retro-fitted by the end of the summer.