Carpark junkie den metres from Victoria’s parliament
A CARPARK on the doorstep of Victoria’s parliament has been turned into a drug den by destitute men living rough and using heroin in public, with the Herald Sun witnessing two men injecting heroin and living rough.
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A CARPARK on the doorstep of Victoria’s parliament has been turned into a drug den by destitute men living rough and using heroin in public.
Customers of the multi-level Wilson Parking lot say they do not feel safe after regularly finding used needles and human waste in the stairwell.
One Melbourne executive said he had nearly run over a homeless man sleeping in a parking space.
The discovery comes as Premier Daniel Andrews said his government had doubled the number of treatment beds across the state.
Mr Andrews said the government had major reforms to combat substance abuse and boosted services in homeless support and mental health, which he said often goes hand-in-hand with drug use.
“We acknowledge there is always more work to be done,” Mr Andrews said.
“We have taken decisive action to grow resources to boost the funding and double the number of treatment beds that is what is really important and working closely with this sector.”
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The Herald Sun witnessed two men injecting heroin and living rough at the Little Collins St site, between Exhibition and Spring streets, when the images below were taken.
Vinnie, who spoke to the Herald Sun, said he had been in and out of jail and was homeless.
While he and his friend, who did not want to reveal his name, injected heroin into their arm and torso in a stairwell, an elderly couple walked around them while another pair opened the door and quickly closed it.
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The men admitted they were taking heroin but did not divulge where it was bought or its cost.
Syringes have been found discarded in the parking lot and bedding scattered across car spaces.
The carpark is adjacent to the Salvation Army, which feeds and accommodates homeless people and offers drug-addiction programs.
John Simpson, who works in Collins St, says attempts to get Wilson Parking to act had been ignored.
“I’d describe it as a multistorey crack den,’’ he said.
“The mess in the place each morning is appalling and users of the carpark feel unsafe and threatened when walking down the stairwells. The lifts are frequently also used as toilets and there appears no effort whatsoever to clean them.
“It’s been getting worse for the past three or four months but it’s been a very unpleasant place for the past two years.’’
Mr Simpson said he was parking when he noticed bedding and stopped to see a man moving under the blankets.
“They (Wilson Parking) never clean the place. It’s definitely dangerous. It’s confronting, particularly if it’s dark.
“It’s not good enough for a sophisticated city like Melbourne,” he said.
Wilson Parking had a captive market, he added, revealing that when he spoke to a company staff member in Sydney he was “implored’’ to go to the media.
“I was told: ‘We’ve tried everything, nothing works’,’’ he said.
Wilson Parking chief operating officer Nick Frangoulis said they were working with police and the City of Melbourne to make the carpark safe.
“Wilson Parking is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our customers,’’ he said.
“We continue to take a proactive approach to matters of rough sleeping within our carparks.
“With this, and additional to our stand-alone efforts, we work closely with Victoria Police and the City of Melbourne supporting the Launch Housing Rough Sleepers Initiative, which provides crisis accommodation for such instances in our community.
“For this carpark alone, we continue to invest over $250,000 on security patrols each year, and have recently fitted the site with new LED lighting to promote passive security and help curb these practices,” Mr Frangoulis said. He urged customers who saw illegal activity to call police.
City of Melbourne spokeswoman Lucy Sinclair said numerous agencies were trying to tackle the issue.
ROUGH SLEEPER CRISIS: CALL FOR ‘NATIONAL STRATEGY’
HOMELESSNESS agencies are calling for a national solution to end rough sleeping, with local services now said to be at breaking point.
Melbourne’s crisis is more visible in recent years, as people increasingly sleep on main streets in the CBD.
Major Brendan Nottle of the Salvation Army called for a national approach to homelessness, as the city attracts rough sleepers from regional areas and interstate.
He said local services were working “flat out” to get people off the street but only a minimal dent had been made in homelessness numbers.
STREETCOUNT FINDS 400 ROUGH SLEEPERS IN INNER-CITY
‘POP-UP’ HOMELESS HOUSING CENTRE TRIAL
A “street count” — done one night in June — found almost 400 people sleeping rough across five inner-city municipalities. Almost 280 of those were homeless within the City of Melbourne — 33 per cent living on the street and 12 per cent in parks. The street count was a 15 per cent drop on the 2016 total.
“We are doing everything we can to get people off the street but the numbers keep on coming,” Major Nottle said.
“I don’t think we have the capacity to end the issue at the moment, and we probably need a national response.
“If homelessness is going to end, it is going to be broader than agencies like ours, the City of Melbourne or even the state government.”
Melbourne City Mission’s Wayne Merritt said the current service system was “at capacity”. “We need to be aware that it is not just a housing response that is needed,” he said.
“A lot of people who are homeless have chronic mental health, drug or alcohol issues that come from significant trauma.
“Behind every person is a story and we need services that provide housing immediately but then also ensure that people have housing longer term.”
Melbourne City Council canvassed new by-laws early last year that would have penalised and fined those sleeping on city streets.
But it moved away from them when a new “operating protocol” with Victoria Police was found to more effectively manage groups of rough sleepers, as well as reduce the number of complaints about homelessness.
A spokeswoman said homelessness was not illegal and that it was “important to understand that it is a complex issue”. Minister for Housing Martin Foley said while the government had invested $1 billion in support services and affordable housing initiatives, ending homelessness would take “an entire community”.
“We’re working to address the causes, as well as providing housing support,” he said.
— with Monique Hore