Homeless people using Knox Leisureworks pool to shower

HOMELESS people are being invited to use shower areas at a public swimming pool in Boronia, creating a stink with other swimmers.

Homeless people have been invited to use the showers at Knox Leisureworks in Boronia.

HOMELESS people are being invited to use public shower areas at Knox Leisureworks pool.

It comes as a patron complained to the Boronia centre about a man lounging in a pool with his “trousers and underpants having a soak”.

Cr Nicole Seymour told the Knox Leader the program, run by Knox Council and Uniting Care Harrison, started in December and was “working quite well” and there were “processes in place” to control who used the showers.

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“You’re not going to get hundreds (of people) suddenly swarming there,” she said.

“You hardly even notice it.”

But on March 14, a woman posted on the centre’s Facebook page that she “watched a man that was outside lying on the ground smoking, later in the spa warm water pool with his outside trousers and underpants having a soak”.

She left the pool a one-star review, saying: “I was told there are special circumstances. Sorry, that should not be a reason for such an unhygienic practice. No one should use the pool with street clothes.”

Knox Leisureworks centre manager Patrick Boyd denied the man was part of the program — which is also likely to be rolled out at Rowville Community Centre — and said staff had addressed “the matter of him entering the pool in inappropriate swimwear”.

But he refused to give more details about the program, referring inquiries back to the council.

A joint statement from Mayor Darren Pearce and Uniting Care Harrison acting chief executive Sharon Wolstenholme did not provide specific information on the process of vetting participants, or on rules around the use of the public shower areas at the pool.

In the statement, Cr Pearce said the “small, informal showering initiative for people experiencing disadvantage” came after a request from Uniting Care Harrison, which wanted a place for “small numbers of their clients to shower”.

Ms Wolstenholme said the organisation “works with all clients to determine their individual needs and the types of services appropriate to their circumstances”.

“This is a positive example of council and community groups working together to assist local people to access the support and services they need,” Ms Wolstenholme said.

Cr Pearce said a similar initiative was being developed for Rowville Community Centre “as there has been a need for (it) in the southern part of Knox”.

“Specific arrangements will be put in place between Uniting Care Harrison, council and the other agencies using the community centre, to ensure a respectful and very small-scale initiative can operate safely and successfully for all concerned,” Cr Pearce said.

Knox councillor Nicole Seymour says homelessness is an issue in Knox.

“All initiatives using council facilities are required to comply with all relevant safety and service quality requirements.”

Cr Seymour said homelessness was growing in Knox, with relationship breakdowns one of the driving contributors.

She said homelessness in Knox did not reflect what people were “seeing on TV”, relating to homeless people in the city.

“We have more women homeless than men in Knox and we have women and children living in cars,” Cr Seymour said.

“It’s a different profile of homeless — we need to be sensitive and compassionate.

“(People think) we’re going to end up with ‘druggos’ and that’s not the case.”

Cr Seymour revealed residents had complained to her that people had been going to the toilet in bushes at Stud Park Reserve.

She believed it was homeless people living in the park.

“The fact is during the day anybody using that reserve can go around and use toilets (at the community centre),” Cr Seymour said.

“Because it’s in the bushes it’s more likely the people living there that have nowhere else to go overnight.”

The council did not respond to Leader’s inquiries about Stud Park Reserve.