No more referrals to dodgy crisis housing, warn homelessness services

Fifty homelessness and family violence organisations in Melbourne will no longer refer people to unsafe and squalid motels and boarding houses as a form of emergency housing.

The group of services in Melbourne’s north and west will today discuss a rolling boycott of dodgy accommodation providers as it launches a new report, A Crisis in Crisis.

Billie Jo experienced family violence and then homelessness and had to live in a motel for three months with her children. Credit: Jason South

Services were “drawing a line in the sand”, said Zoe Vale, a representative of the North and Western Homelessness Networks, and a senior manager in the homelessness sector.

“Yes, there is a risk that we would be turning people away without assistance, which is not something we do lightly,” Ms Vale said. “[But] we’re not funded to create harm, we’re funded to help people. What we’re saying is that we need to stop doing this."

We’re not funded to create harm, we’re funded to help people. What we’re saying is that we need to stop doing this.

Zoe Vale

For the first time, these services have revealed the financial cost to taxpayers of putting vulnerable people in substandard crisis accommodation.

More than $2.5 million in public funds was spent by services in Melbourne’s north and west to house 9000 households in substandard temporary accommodation last year, according to the report. This was a 500 per cent increase since 2011.

Across Victoria, there are only 423 government-funded crisis beds. To make up the significant shortfall in accommodation, homelessness services are forced to purchase rooms in low-end hotels and private room houses.

Billie-Jo, who lives in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, spent 14 years with an abusive partner.

When he was eventually removed by police, and later imprisoned, Billie-Jo discovered he hadn’t been paying the rent and she and their three children were evicted.

The motel they stayed in cost $700 a week for one room, no kitchen and three beds for four people. Sex workers used the motel regularly and sex offenders were housed alongside families.

The North and Western Homelessness Networks are appealing to the Andrew government to provide more funding so they can put people in safer, cleaner motels, and build self-contained emergency accommodation.

Dirty and unsafe crisis accommodation in Melbourne.

Melbourne’s dodgy motels and boarding houses are “horrible”, “terrible” and unsafe for children, clients told these services in a survey last year. Women reported they feared violence and rape, and one woman reported being raped in emergency accommodation.

Desperate clients are often housed in motels such as The Palms in Footscray, The Coburg Motor Inn, the Stay Inn in Coburg, and the Parkside Hotel in Bundoora. These offer accommodation that has a low standard of amenity and no cooking facilities, the report found.

The Palms in Footscray accounted for nearly 20 percent of the total $2.5 million spent by the network on emergency accommodation in 2017, about $500,000. It charges between $90 and $120 per night.

The Coburg Motor Inn, Parkside Hotel in Bundoora and the Stay Inn motel in Coburg, accounted for another quarter of the funding.

Palms motel manager Nick Konatham said he received many referrals from homelessness and related services, including people with mental illness, family violence survivors and people leaving prison.

“We do expect a bit of turbulence with our work, but we are always trying to maintain standards of hygiene and safety,” he said. The motel has a monthly contract with a fumigator and spends thousands of dollars on maintenance, he said.

Dirty and unsafe crisis accommodation in boarding houses Melbourne. Credit: Tenants Victoria

Living for three months in a motel in Melbourne's north took a heavy toll on Billie-Jo’s mental health but she considers herself “one of the lucky ones” because she eventually found a private rental.

For a two bedroom unit she now pays $1230 in rent a fortnight, which is leaves her with about $400 a fortnight for all her other expenses, an extreme example of housing stress.

"The public needs to know the homelessness system is bursting at the seams," she says. "We're putting people in accommodation with no support so they go back, they go back to their abuser.”

A Victorian government spokesperson said anyone being placed in crisis accommodation should be secure and safe and it would continue to work with specialist homelessness services to ensure this is a priority.

The Age attempted to contact the Stay Inn, Coburg Motor Inn and Parkview Motel, but did not get a response.

1800 Respect - the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling and information referral service: 1800 737 732