Downtown Hamilton high-rise tenants to rally against conditions

A long list of complaints is being aired as tenants and the activist group ACORN are set to rally outside St. Johns Place in downtown Hamilton.

The rally is planned for Friday afternoon at the building at 20 Emerald Street.

They say there’s a varied list of problems with St. Johns Place, but little help in bringing up the standards.

“There’s a big concern with the ongoing problems of bedbugs and cockroaches,” said Mike Wood, the acting chair of ACORN Hamilton. “Ceiling tiles falling down in the hallways, leaks, mould on the walls of the stairwells in the underground parking. The list just goes on and on.”

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He adds there hasn’t been much help from the City of Hamilton because “there’s no department that actually deals with mould unless they see it right in front of them. Even if you can smell it in the apartments or in the hallways, they won’t force someone to put a hole in the wall and renovate it.”

The residents and ACORN are calling on the owners, the Sons of Italy, DMS Property Management from Toronto, and the city find a solution.

Rob Watt, CEO of DMS Property Management, said the company isn’t aware of any “systemic problems” with the property.

He said issues such as pests are dealt with as they are reported, though repairs may take time.

He also said the company has a monthly contract with a pest control company that does preventative work.

The owners of the property did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

With a file from Kerri Breen