‘Scary’: Geelong woman’s harrowing tale of public housing conditions

A woman who has lived at the same public housing unit for decades is packing her bags after dealing with escalating violence, rampant drug use and mental health concerns at her doorstep.

Joanne Aitken, 71 is packing her bags and moving due to safety fears. Picture: Brad Fleet

“I don’t want to leave, but I’m afraid I’ll end up hurt if I stay.”

For almost 30 years, Joanne Aitken has called her “little castle” inside a public housing complex home. Now, she is being forced to pack up in the face of escalating violence, rampant drug use and mental health concerns on her doorstep.

The sounds of police and ambulance sirens are constant, drug deals happen in plain sight and violent outbursts shatter the silence at all hours.

She’s witnessed serious assaults, has seen blood dripping inside her front gate and has been kept up by the loud noises of others having sex.

“Moving is going to have a tremendous impact on me, but I need to feel safe,” The 71-year-old said.

“I love my garden, I love my dogs, I love my birds and I love the unit.”

After decades of alleged neglect from housing authorities and a spike in crime around the area, Ms Aitken has made the heartbreaking decision to walk away from her Breakwater home.

Recent data shows the suburb’s recorded criminal offences have increased in the year ending September 2024 (196) compared to the previous reporting period (179).

Neighbouring East Geelong (311) and Newcomb (654) have jumped by a combined 70.2 per cent since 2023, according to the Crime Statistics Agency.

Yet it’s the countless incidents that go unreported that continue to trouble her.

“One lady walks around wearing a towel and carrying a golf club over her shoulder,” she said.

“She destroys property. I think she is self medicating with heroin.”

Another man often knocks on her front door bleeding.

“I’m not sure why he always feels the need to come to me, but I’ve had to call the ambulance a few times.”

Drug use is rife and omnipresent, with used syringes left on footpaths.

Screams of pleasure and pain are frequent in the night.

“You hear absolutely everything. I don’t want to be listening to young girls having sex but there is not much we can do about it.”

She recently called police after waking to a man howling like a wounded animal before dawn.

“It was a soul destroying cry,” she said.

“I saw him outside with nothing on. He had hard bubbles of snot pouring out of his nose.”

Her electricity is sometimes turned off by a mentally impaired neighbour, while another is alleged to have been recently jailed for a heinous crime against a child.

Remnants of police tape remain on one front gate.

“It can get scary,” she says.

“I’ve seen a lot.”

Her complaints have resulted in the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) considering relocating her to a more suitable area, however the process may take up to two years.

Ms Aitken says more should be done to monitor the living conditions of those on her street, claiming welfare checks were few and far between.

In the three decades inside her unit, she claims to have counted on one hand the visits from DFFH officers.

“You should not have this many people with serious mental health issues clashing in one area,” she said.

“Maybe one or two, but this many is unsafe.”

She claims the inside of her home has been refurbished only once in her time there.

Many others are in various states of decay.

“There is not much care or dignity given to these places,” she said.

Greg Dale from WorkOk specialises in dealing with hoarding and squalor. He is called to clean up commission homes when tenants either vacate, die or are sent to jail.

“We’ve done some work around there,” he said.

“There has been a lot of drug use in that area.”

The department did not answer direct questions about the complex, although it’s understood formal complaints have been sparse of late.

It has consistently stated it does not tolerate anti-social behaviour in accommodation it owns, and takes all incidents and complaints seriously.

The DFFH was slammed last year over a case involving a former elderly tenant, Robert Natoli, who was found dead inside a Newtown unit.

Evidence suggests he may have lay undiscovered for years, with a coroner still investigating the circumstances that led to his demise.

It’s understood initial home visits only occur within the first six weeks of a new tenancy, with subsequent checks every three years, unless there is a need to undertake a home visit earlier.

Welfare visits are undertaken when housing support officers deem they’re required.

Meanwhile Ms Aitken will simply wait patiently for her next move, likely to a be specially zoned area for the elderly in the southern suburbs of Geelong.

She doubts the wait will be in peace.

“I don’t want to go, this has been my home. My life,” she said.

“But what else can I do?”

Originally published as ‘Scary’: Geelong woman’s harrowing tale of public housing conditions