Seniors stage rally over ‘unacceptable’ living conditions at Sudbury apartment complex

Seniors living at 12 Elgin Street in Sudbury rallied against property manager Luxor, citing unacceptable living conditions and a severe bedbug infestation.

Tenants at 12 Elgin Street in Greater Sudbury, Ont., say they’re fed up with what they call “unacceptable living conditions.” They are so discontented with the situation that they staged a rally in front of their property management company on Tuesday to draw attention to the issue.

They were chanting “Luxor, you bug me,” in front of Luxor Management on Larch Street.

“There seems to be an ongoing habit of neglect and it’s unconscionable that you’re doing this to a naturally occurring retirement community,” said Bill McElree, president of the 12 Elgin Tenants Association.

The tenants – all of whom are over the age of 55 and many on fixed incomes – said they’ve endured years of inaction, lack of communication and no accountability from Luxor Management and by association the non-profit that owns the building (Twelve Elgin Housing Corporation).

“There’s all kinds of issues in our building. We’re mostly seniors, and disabled people and we’re not treated as such, like we deserve respect,” said tenant Fern Brunet, who held a placard with “Luxor Show Respect for Seniors” at the rally.

Most concerning for the tenants is the bedbugs – several units and common areas are infested.

“When you’re afraid to go even put garbage in the shoot because you’re going to bring a bedbug in your house, when you’re afraid to go out of your apartment,” said Trish, a tentant who did not want to give her last name for fear of retaliation.

Despite mobility issues, Trish was at the rally holding a large sign that said “Clean Bug-Free Building = Happy Healthy Tenants. Do your job Luxor.”

Brunet said he’s been told by pest control experts that treatment should be in a cross system, with fumigating happening in units that are above, below, to the left and right, as well as the infested one.

“What they’re doing in our building is their doing a little bit at one apartment, down the hall one more and they’re scattering them (the bedbugs),” Brunet said.

In an email to CTV News, Jay Mancini, Senior Property Manager for Luxor Management, said the board of directors with the non-profit “invest a significant budget towards pest control treatments, however, in many instances, it’s the behaviour and living standards of some of the tenants that promote pest infiltrations into their apartment unit.”

The email from Mancini also said “the building is in excellent condition, inside and out. This building receives a weekly scheduled visit from a licensed pest contractor, Greater Sudbury Pest Control Inc.”

The city’s bylaw services had ordered the building’s owners to remedy the vermin situation before Sept 8.

In his email to CTV News, Mancini included the most recent newsletter to the 12 Elgin Street tenants, which highlighted that as of Sept. 3, six units had active bedbugs however, four were not prepared for pest treatments.

“These are not dirty people, these are not people who’ve stopped caring. They do care. They’re just left living in a situation where they’re not being listened to. Well, that ends today,” McElree said.

The tenants rallied in front of Luxor’s offices because they say their concerns about a host of building issues have fallen on deaf ears. McElree told CTV News that when they’ve tried to speak to the property manager about any of the issues that they’re concerned about, they are met with either silence or eviction threats.

McElree added that the building often has homeless individuals lingering both inside and out, there’s a strong odour emanating from the building’s garbage room and many common areas haven’t been vacuumed or swept in months. Although while the CTV camera was inside the building, a maintenance worker was seen sweeping the front entrance.