Council votes to begin ‘renewal’ of Victoria St, Richmond, aka ‘Disneyland for drug users’

A council has vowed to clean up a notorious inner city area where residents have complained about regular drug use and assaults.

A local council has vowed to clean up a notorious drug hotspot in Melbourne’s inner city after years of complaints from frightened residents and business owners.

Yarra City Council this week voted to approve what has been dubbed the Urban Renewal of Victoria Street – a main drag in North Richmond known as both a Vietnamese food hub and heroin beat.

News.com.au has reported in recent months that locals have become terrified of drug users injecting and overdosing on the streets, along with regular assaults and robberies.

Yarra Mayor Stephen Jolly has described the area, which has a high proportion of social housing, as a “ghetto” and “Disneyland for drug users”.

A man nods off outside the safe injecting room at Lennox St, Richmond. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

“You can get there by train or tram, there’s plenty of people that will sell you the drugs, there’s plenty of nice houses in Abbotsford and North Richmond you can rob to get the money for the drugs, and there’s even a supervised injecting facility that you can shoot up in,” Mr Jolly told 3AW in March.

This week a Yarra councillor, who called herself the “Vic Street Terminator”, declared the renewal project was the beginning of the end of the street’s decline.

Yarra Mayor Stephen Jolly. Picture: Mark Stewart

Councillor Evangeline Aston – the “Vic street terminator”. Picture: Supplied.

The first steps of the council’s plan will include a “graffiti blitz”, investigations into more CCTV and a focus on greening the span between Richmond and Abbotsford from Hoddle St in the west to the Victoria Bridge across the Yarra River.

“The Plan will include a suite of short, medium, and long-term targeted interventions in partnership with residents, businesses, and private and public sector stakeholders,” council papers state.

“It will also foreground the Vietnamese community’s role in Victoria Street’s cultural and economic identity.

The council report said the plan would also “enhance public spaces through practical safety interventions, greening, and beautification efforts”, and foster economic vibrancy by working with existing traders and attracting new investment.

Ha Nguyen, president of the Victoria Street Business Association, spoke in favour at Tuesday’s council meeting but added: “We know there’s a big elephant in the room”.

“The drug market near the injecting rooms, with anti-social behaviour daily, create public safety concerns and that undermines liveability and damages our economic prospects,” he said.

“Families feel unsafe, visitors are hesitant and businesses move away or shut down.”

A North Richmond resident shared images of drug users on the street. Picture: news.com.au

Addicts are regularly seen shooting up in public. Picture: news.com.au

He said the community wanted graffiti and litter removed, public safety measures such as lighting and CCTV, and more police patrols.

“With the right support we can transform this precinct into a safe, thriving and proud place once again,” Mr Nguyen said.

The area has long been associated with heroin use, and Melbourne’s only medically supervised injecting room was opened around the corner next to a primary school on Lennox St in 2019.

Data from the Coroners Court of Victoria shows despite the safe injecting room’s presence, Yarra LGA still had the state’s highest rate of heroin overdose deaths in 2023.

The view from the commission housing towers at Elizabeth St, Richmond. Pictures: news.com.au

Last month news.com.au visited public housing towers near Victoria St to hear from residents who said they had never seen the neighbourhood in such bad shape.

“I don’t feel safe,” 51-year-old long-time resident Jackie said.

“I found one dead body before the injecting room arrived. But there have been more after.

“I feel so unsafe even during the day going for a walk. I get constant verbal abuse and sexual harassment.”

Councillors Evangeline Aston and Meca Ho moved the recommendation to proceed with the renewal at this week’s council meeting.

Ms Aston said the council was prepared to take the lead in cleaning up the area and was not going to wait for the state government to “rescue us”.

“This is about council taking the lead on this, owning the issue … (with) tangible, on-the-ground actions,” she said.

Victoria St is a major thoroughfare in Melbourne.

“We will start to see things happening in Vic Street that have not happened for a long time, within the first year.”

She said herself and Mr Ho, both elected in 2024, had “skin in the game, we’ve lived here for decades. This is our community”.

“This was always my number one priority in coming on to council … the one thing everyone I spoke to agreed needed to be done.

“I am the goddamn Vic Street Terminator.”