Perth Voice Interactive

TENANTS in a social housing complex in central Perth say they are considering a class action against the state government because it has allowed two tenants to make their life a living hell.

A dozen angry and frightened tenants met with the Voice this week to describe the outrageous behaviour that has been allowed to fester in the Department of Communities complex at 605 Wellington Street.

Dozens of used syringes lie in the garden bed of their small outdoor area, around the bin enclosure and in a vacant lot next door. A small store room with the fuses for their smoke alarms gets regularly broken into and when the Voice visits there’s a couple of syringes in there as well as the remnants of a fire someone has made. In the outdoor area is a shopping bag with two large canisters of nitrous oxide.

The tenants, who didn’t want to be identified because reprisals are common and violent, provide multiple photographs of drug deals and users sleeping on chairs in their common areas or under the stairs. Because they don’t live there and have no access to toilets, the druggies defecate where they please.

To top it all off, our meeting is interrupted by a non-resident who starts threatening people through a door they are forced to lock to keep her out. The tenants claim she is one of the main suppliers.

One tells the Voice the outdoor area has become so well-known in the drug community as a place to shoot up away from the gaze of authorities they’re lining up outside the locked gate.

“So even though they can’t get in, they’re following tenants in, and these are just people off the street; literally people off the street, everyone.

“We’ve asked for a gate here, and all they’ve done is fix the seats at the back, so users have got something to sit on.”

Another tenant says she had a harrowing experience in one of the units they claim is a drug den.

“I was brought down to a lady that had overdosed on heroin; I was shocked.

“She was stone dead when I got to her, but I brought her back to life.”

Drugs

An ambulance was called and the woman was checked over but left in the unit when she refused to be taken to hospital; the resident said she couldn’t believe it when the women started smoking a pipe just after the ambos left.

“In that unit there have been three people who have overdosed previously, and one person who’s died, and they still haven’t done anything.”

They claim the tenant is getting away with it because she isn’t actually selling the drugs herself, so following the regular raids, it’s just her house guests who get hauled away.

But they say getting police action is difficult anyway, because they’ve been told that non-residents can’t be kicked out unless they’re actually breaking a law and police also have to have approval from a Communities officer before they can escort someone off the property.

“There’s no signs that say ‘no trespassing’, so there’s no trespass.

“I went through this with the disruptive behaviour person and Crime Stoppers,” they said.

Part of any class action would be around the physical and mental toll living in the complex has left them.

They say the drug users scream to get let in throughout the night, depriving them of sleep, and then fight every second night when they get access.

“I had a stroke three weeks ago – I’m not saying it was all, but some of the stress that I’ve had – and now I’m a type B diabetic because of all the stress I’m going through,” one reveals.

Another says he believes it contributed to a recent heart attack, while another says it’s made her contemplate self-harm.

The tenants say they’ve lodged many complaints against the problem tenants, but can’t understand why the department hasn’t stuck by its three strike rules and kicked them out.

They met with housing minister John Carey a year ago, but apart from a new meeting due this week, hadn’t heard back from him. They had the same response when they met with the local police superintendent; he wouldn’t take their calls or respond to emails following the meeting.

The tenants say they want signage warning against trespassing, gates to protect the back garden and also more CCTV cameras.

The Voice contacted the Department of Communities, but didn’t hear back before deadline.

by STEVE GRANT