'A lot of mice in a small apartment': Tenant shares photos of daily life in Toronto public housing

A tenant of Toronto public housing is sharing photos of daily life in her apartment, complete with mice, roaches and an increasingly urgent garbage problem.

Eileen Boudreau, 32, has lived in a high-rise apartment building in Scarborough, located at 3171 Eglinton Avenue East, for three years with her five-year-old son. She says pests of all kinds have “open access” into her unit, located on the second floor of the building, due to holes in her walls and behind her radiators.

“I’ve put foam in those holes to try and prevent the mice from coming in,” she said in an interview, adding that a recent change in building management has further prolonged the problem.

“Since Toronto Community Housing has taken over, it’s just gotten worse,” she said. “They’re getting into my son’s toys. The mice have always been there, and I just ignored them at first. It wasn’t a huge concern until I had to throw out a couch and two of my son’s beds.”  TCHC took over management of the building in 2022.

Boudreau added that her building’s garbage chute has been out of order for several months, which has caused tenants to start leaving garbage in the hallway, a trend she believes may be exacerbating the vermin problem.

In a statement to CP24, representatives for Toronto Community Housing confirmed that the building at 3171 Eglinton Avenue East “is experiencing some issues with rodents.”

“Since taking over the day-to-day management of this building, TCHC has been actively responding to a backlog of maintenance-related concerns as well as encouraging residents to be partners with us in housing-keeping within their units and in common areas,” continued the statement. TCHC representatives further explained that pest control issues are first dealt with by a third-party specialist and the use of “carefully placed” traps, but “it does take time for these traps to be effective.”

Boudreau says she reached out to the media as a last resort for help before approaching the Landlord and Tenant Board. She took multiple photos on different days as proof of the severity of the problem, which she says has steadily gotten worse despite the use of electronic traps, poisoned bait and traditional mousetraps. The photos provided to CP24 were all taken in recent days, she said.

Shortly after CP24 inquired about Boudreau’s unit on Friday, Toronto Community Housing scheduled an immediate pest control visit on Saturday.

“I’m angry,” said Boudreau. “They’ve been laying bait for three years. They’ve sprayed my apartment five times. And they gave me no notice about this visit – where am I supposed to go with my son and my dog while they’re doing this work? This needs preventative work, and spraying and laying bait is a Band-Aid solution.”

In an interview with CP24, family friend Dave Helsdon said he’d “never seen so many cockroaches in [his] life” as at Boudreau’s apartment.

“This has nothing to do with an untidy apartment,” he said. “[The mice] are being bred, and then they’re spreading out through the apartment building.

“That’s a lot of mice in a small apartment,” he said. “Can you imagine how terrifying a place like that would be? And the cockroaches – my goodness. I didn’t realize it was so bad until I saw it.”