BOARDING OR BAWDY HOUSE

Two years ago The Age ran a revealing expose on a growing boarding house scandal in Melbourne. It was prompted by a tragedy when two people died in a boarding house fire – in a building which was part of a network of such buildings run by a group of people including sex offenders. Such boarding houses are in the news again now because of a fatal stabbing at Reservoir at the weekend and a fresh application for a male boarding house in Pakenham.

The Age investigation found that thousands of society's most vulnerable people were being placed in boarding houses that were largely unregulated. By limiting the number of tenants, the companies that managed the  establishments were apparently able to avoid industry regulations and council inspections.

They apparently thrived on State and Federal Government money but  the governments didn’t seem to know much about their operations or the men behind them. The money comes from Housing Establishment Fund grants  and from the tenants Centrelink payments.

One network of companies –operated by at least four men – control up to 150 properties across northern Melbourne, in Brunswick, Reservoir and North Fitzroy  with more starting up in the western suburbs.  It’s a lucrative business and the owners take in tens of thousands of dollars a week in rent.

Some of the operators have appeared in court in the past and pleaded guilty to such crimes as running illegal brothels, underage prostitution and committing sexual assaults.

Complaints have been made by the Tenants’ Union to Consumer Affairs but they continue to operate. And grow. Tenants, neighbours and property owners have protested about violence and drug abuse by other tenants and filthy conditions in the homes.

Staff at referral agencies say they despair at sending clients such as drug addicts, the mentally ill and newly released prisoners to operators whose properties they know are substandard and dangerous.

The latest application, from a different group, for a male boarding house in Pakenham has upset residents but surely there is a touch of the Nimby’s there. Not in my backyard.

But they have a point.  People who are down and out  need boarding house accommodation but you wonder what quality of life  the tenants will have in say Pakenham where it’s a forty minute walk to the town for a litre of milk or a train.

The problem is Governments can, and do, legislate on the locations of hotels and brothels and adult stores. But it gets dicey when you start telling people where they can and cannot live. Even if they are being exploited in substandard accommodation.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2008