Tenants in northern Montreal are living in buildings infested with vermin.
Mould, cockroaches, bed bugs and worse plague a number of buildings, and many of the tenants do not realize this is unacceptable.
One former tenant, who did not wish to be identified, lived in these conditions for ten years.
"I would call it hell. I am happy to be out of there," said the man, whose case is still before the Rental Board.
"The help is there but you have to be strong. It takes time," he said.
For the past 11 months a housing watchdog group, in conjunction with city officials from the Ahuntsic Cartierville borough, went door-to-door in buildings with at least six apartments.
What they found was often disgusting.
"You go and ask people in the buildings and they go 'Yeah, I do have cockroach problems.' And it's pretty much one out of two [apartments]," said Remi Bureau.
According to the survey, 46% of the 789 households were unsanitary, 81% had cockroaches, and 30% had bed bugs.
The public health department says these conditions can cause serious health problems.
"Living in an apartment that has mould or has a lot of water infiltration can cause asthma, can contribute to respiratory infections, to irritation to eyes and nose, and in children and adults this can have a significant impact on their quality of health and life," said Dr. David Kaiser.
Those health effects are what convinced one man to move out.
"My three kids, almost four, got asthma," said the man.
Only 113 tenants filed complaints with the borough.
Some are afraid and others don't know enough about their rights
"Some were not too sure where to go," said Bureau.
Some landlords said they have made changes since the survey.
Meanwhile activists say the city of Montreal needs to do more inspections of its own.
Harout Chitilian, a VP on Montreal's Executive Committee, said that is about to change.
"We are going to work with them either to repair the existing units, to have heftier fines for inspections and even to charge for inspections," said Chitilian.
