Norlane public housing units empty for months after neighbour’s horror stories

Neighbours of a set of public housing units in Geelong’s north are furious they have been left empty after they were allegedly trashed by a neighbour from hell.

The houses are currently boarded up with windows smashed.

Neighbours of public housing units in Geelong’s north are furious three properties have been left empty after they were allegedly trashed by a neighbour from hell.

The townhouses on a single block along St Georges Rd in Norlane have sat boarded up and damaged since being left empty late last year.

Neighbours said two of the houses were vacated in December, before the tenant of the third, which is managed by a community housing agency, was evicted following a string of bad behaviour.

One neighbour, who wanted to remain nameless, described a man who previously lived in one of the houses as a “nightmare”.

“He was in the unit for 12 to 18 months and would just set fires constantly,” she said.

The inside of the front unit has been trashed.

“He would set fires in driveways and fences, and in the backyard.

“One day he set two fires in three hours, the fire brigade came both times.”

When the Geelong Advertiser visited the property on Monday, a portion of its fence was blackened.

This fence could be seen with burn marks.

The front unit had smashed windows and its front door was wide open.

An air conditioner inside was ripped off the walls, while carpet appeared to be torn off the staircase.

All three units are boarded up.

“It’s a lot better now without him there, but people are getting in there and smashing things,” the neighbour said,

The neighbour claimed the man damaged the other houses after he was told he was being evicted.

Rubbish strewn across the property on St George’s Rd.

Another neighbour said the man was “so scary”.

“He would hit the door and make noise at night,” she said.

“Sometimes he would spray the hose on our windows.”

In one particularly worrying incident, the man allegedly threw part of a V6 engine over the fence into the woman’s back yard.

A neighbour said this piece of an engine was thrown over the fence.

Neighbours said they believed townhouses were between four to six years old and had been built as public housing.

One neighbour said it was a shame to see them destroyed and not used while many in Geelong sleep rough.

“There were people cleaning the house in February or March,” she said.

“We thought there would be people in there by now.”

According to the Geelong council website, the 2021 census indicated that 1541 people were experiencing homelessness in Geelong.

Most often people are homeless for around four to five months, but 20 per cent of experiences last longer than 12 months.

Two of the units are managed by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

A spokesman said “we work hard to ensure properties are tenanted as soon as possible, including undertaking the necessary inspection, safety checks and repairs in line with the Residential Tenancies Act before the property is ready for the next renters”.

The DFFH confirmed they had not received any complaints at the two units they manage, and were committed to re-tenant the houses.

In April, a group of residents in Thomson were demanding the removal of an alleged violent and aggressive neighbour amid claims authorities had lost control.

One young family moved to Armstrong Creek to get away from the woman, of whom footage emerged being told to leave a property after allegedly screaming vile and sexually depraved abuse while children slept.

In February last year a Newcomb father blasted the state’s housing department after a hellish neighbour, who once set fire to her own rat infested property, suddenly returned.

A DFFH spokesman said at the time he understood the “situation (was) distressing for the neighbouring residents.”

[e-mail]

Originally published as Norlane public housing units empty for months after neighbour’s horror stories