STUDENTS CALL FOR COMPENSATION FOLLOWING THE U OF O’S INABILITY TO REHOUSE THEM AFTER DISCOVERING BEDBUGS IN THEIR DORM
Since move-in day on Sept. 1st, three students have been facing a bedbug infestation in their Annex dorm. With one paying for a hotel, and another sleeping on the floor of a friend’s Carleton dorm, the students have felt dismissed by housing services. The university, meanwhile, states that despite the active pests, “moving back into the dorm [is] always an option.”
Matthew Zheng found the pests shortly after midnight on his Sept. 1st move-in date. “I was setting up my sheets, and I found a black speck. I looked closer and I was like, that’s a bug.” After verifying his findings as bedbugs on Google, Zheng opened the cracks of the mattress to see “like hundreds of babies.”
After reaching out to the University of Ottawa housing service, Zheng was instructed to fill out a pest declaration form and reassured that “bedbugs are not known to spread disease to humans.”
The following morning, the residents were informed of an inspection of the dorm, with instructions to prepare their dorm or face a possible $80 fine. Preparations included the need to strip and pack their bedding, clean of the dorm, and a request for Zheng to collect a specimen “if [he was] comfortable doing so.”
“Baffled” at that request, Zheng elected not to collect a bedbug.
Following the investigation, housing services had contacted the roommates, affirming the presence of bedbugs but highlighting they believed it to be an “isolated instance” and that Regionex, a pest control company, would treat their dorm and neighbouring rooms shortly.
Following the first spray, on Sept. 4th, Zheng moved back into his Annex room from the hotel he was staying at only to find more bedbugs alive in his room.
Living conditions deemed acceptable by the U of O
Zheng told the Fulcrum that the university had communicated to the residents they could move back into the dorm the day following the initial spraying, but omitted that the treatment would take multiple spraying sessions. To ensure all bedbugs are flushed out and exposed to the chemicals, it would take multiple weeks of treatment.
This detail was emailed to the residents after Zheng had reconnected the housing services to inform them of more pests he found after moving back after the first spraying.
“[Administration] gave us vague answers… they just kept telling us ‘we don’t know, we are doing everything we can’” said another resident of the dorm, Angad Benipal.
Despite having an estimated 20 emergency rooms on campus in 2024 available for residents in cases such as roommate conflicts, fires, floods, or emergencies, the Annex residents were told the university is “unable to relocate” the residents. The university instead suggested them to “stay at a hotel if [they] would prefer” and to submit a possible claim through the student housing insurance for any related expenses.
Two weeks after Zheng had moved into a hotel, he was informed through the U of O housing insurance that his claim was rejected. As resident coverage does not apply to bedbugs, he would be left to pay the nearly $2000 bill himself, calling it “crazy” that “the housing department doesn’t know their own housing insurance policy.”
Instead of moving back after the initial spray, Benipal has been living on the floor of a friend’s dorm at Carleton, adding a 40 minute commute to campus. “It’s terrible” said Benipal that “we are paying like $22,000, moving six or seven hours to Ottawa, just to be living in a room full of bugs.”
Currently, the university is offering the students a one-month housing fee credit, for the “disruptions this situation has caused, both practically and emotionally.”
When asked for comment, the university spokesperson Jesse Robichaud told the Fulcrum “action was taken immediately… mattresses were replaced and common areas were deep-cleaned,” saying that the university “continue[s] to work with the occupants of the unit to provide support and solutions to ensure they feel safe and comfortable in their living environments.”
“These situations are rare, but they can happen when pests are accidentally brought in through travel or personal belongings. When they occur in a university residence, we implement measures to contain and resolve the case” continued Robichaud’s statement.
This is a developing story. The Fulcrum will continue to follow this case, and updates will be posted in separate articles.
