Logan investigates as homeless moved out of decrepit Beenleigh Nursing Home

A former nursing home, left to rack and ruin in the middle of a southside crime hotspot, has been evacuated after it became a shelter for homeless people with children who lived alongside elderly women and people with mental health issues. WATCH THE VIDEO

Managers of a former nursing home, next to a primary school, are being investigated for using the rundown facility as a halfway house for 30 homeless people.

Logan City Council officers swooped on the 80-bed former Beenleigh Nursing Home on Thursday night, finding bedrooms occupied by homeless people.

On Friday, the owners oversaw an evacuation of the building.

The front door of the former Nursing Home: PHOTOS: JUDITH KERR

Officers issued a show cause notice to owners of the facility, Fortune Life, last week.

It gives management until June 24 to give the council details about people working or living at the construction site and to move out any homeless people.

The council was alerted after charity workers reported children were staying inside the derelict buildings alongside homeless people, domestic violence victims, parolees and people with mental health issues.

Thursday night’s council inspection was the second time that day officers had visited the Kokoda St facility wearing body cameras.

Managers of a former nursing home next to a primary school are being investigated for using the rundown facility as a halfway house. Logan City Council issued a show cause notice to the owners of the 80-bed facility in Kokoda St, Beenleigh next to St Joseph’s Tobruk Memorial Primary School.

Prior to the daytime inspection, management alerted residents and told them to stay in their rooms while others had been moved to a section of the facility where they remained undetected.

Officers, who did not have search warrants, asked to see behind some locked sections inside the former hospice but were told passcodes were unavailable.

During the on-site inspection, officers told owner Grace Wu and the onsite manager Emma Gavenlock that any changes to the buildings, or to signs and fittings would have to get council approval before the building was allowed to be used again as a nursing home.

However, after officers left the site, middle aged men, women in dressing gowns using walking frames, young women and toddlers were spotted inside the buildings and on-site.

Two primary school aged children also went inside the facility after school.

Ms Gavenlock, who also runs Arrival Lodge at Southport, which is also owned by Ms Wu and her husband Kevin, told officers there were only six people living on site helping with renovations.

Council officers investigate inside the facility.

“We are not breaking any laws because the people living here are helping with the renovations,” she said.

“They are people from our Gold Coast facility Arrival Lodge who are able to help out with the renovations instead of paying rent.

“One woman who has children and is living here is doing our accounts and an elderly woman is doing the laundry for the Gold Coast facility.

“One of the men is painting the facility and others are helping out with cleaning.”

Owner Ms Wu said it was never her intention for the Beenleigh facility to be used as a halfway house and she had not intended to “employ” tenants from her Gold Coast lodge as renovators in Beenleigh.

People living on the site were doing laundry for the Arrival Lodge on the Gold Coast.

“We were always going to use the facility for a medical care centre to help people with mental health issues and sick people to get back on their feet and into society,” Ms Wu said.

“It was always going to be a paid-for facility with patients using NDIS funding and was never going to be a charity not-for-profit venture — we are not a charity.

“I will make sure no one lives on-site apart from three workers who are there to guard the place.

“I tried to find accommodation for an elderly lady and her grandchildren. She said she tried over a year to find accommodation but there is nothing.

“When she said she was being charged $360 a week for three of them — that is too expensive for her. We are not bad people.

“I also approached several NDIS operators looking for a partnership to do things in a professional way. But no luck.”

The nursing home was left to rack and ruin before Ms Wu and Fortune Life paid $5.9 million for it in January.

Alarm bells were raised about the building being used for homeless accommodation after more than 15 homeless people turned up to a weekly charity dinner station in Beenleigh.

Centrelink staff also said they had noticed new claims from people who had recently changed their address to Beenleigh.

The state government’s Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy said there were 515 social housing properties in Beenleigh and since July, $5.6 million had been allocated to seven Specialist Homelessness Services in Logan.

“The department aims to ensure everyone has access to a safe, secure and sustainable home that meets their needs and provides a broad range of housing assistance and support services,” a spokesman said.

The department said it planned to build more social housing backed by a $2.9 billion investment, including the establishment of a $1 billion Housing Investment Fund.

HELP AVAILABLE

■ Anyone seeking housing assistance can contact their local Housing Service Centre or phone 13QGOV. The Logan Housing Service Centre can be contacted on 3086 3700 or [e-mail]