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It’s the smell that strikes you first at the Coburg Motor Inn; the $ 110 per night motel room has the miasma of old-fashioned sweat, dirt, and despair.
When The Age visited last week, there were cracks in the carpet and sofa, a chair was stained and the view from the motel room window was of car wreckage and a mattress leaning against the floor. close.
Nick Cave’s son Jethro Lazenby was found dead on May 6, the day after he was released on bail from Melbourne Remand Center.
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The Age may reveal that 12 days later a 44-year-old man from Gowanbrae was found dead at the motel. Neither death is being treated as a suspect and police are preparing reports for the coroner.
But Lazenby’s death at the Coburg Motor Inn, where agencies routinely remand homeless people and those released on bail, has highlighted the terrible lack of adequate emergency housing for the state’s most marginalized citizens.
In Victoria, there are only 522 government-funded crisis beds.
To make up for the accommodation deficit, government-funded homeless services and the justice system are forced to buy rooms for their guests in low-end motels and private room homes.
Robert Mark Old, who spent one night at the Coburg Motor Inn, says he would rather live on the street. Credit: Chris Hopkins
Robert Mark Old, who has been homeless for three months, would rather live on the streets of Melbourne than stay in crisis accommodation.
Old says VincentCare referred him to Coburg Motor Inn for a few days in March.
“I left after one night; it was a bloody shame,” Old said. “The rooms were dirty and the staircase was used as a toilet by residents, all affected by drugs and alcohol. It wasn’t safe at all. I just want a little place for myself. It’s asking a lot that I know. If all else fails, stay tuned. “
Bath at the Coburg Motor InnCredit: Joe Armao
Meanwhile, residents living near the Coburg Motor Inn have expressed concern to Moreland City Council and local federal MP Peter Khalil about a steady stream of police and emergency services handling crises at the motel.
Residents, who asked not to be named, said a man staying at the motel had set fire to a street light and that his children had been frightened by encounters with guests.
“It is time to act in this dangerous establishment before people who live there or those who live nearby are at greater risk. My fellow residents and I want vulnerable people to receive adequate support, not to “The basket is too hard for us. The current agreement only serves the motel owner, no one else.”
Khalil told The Age that there were “serious security concerns about the Coburg Motor Inn,” which reflected the broader challenge of the lack of comprehensive housing and services for the homeless.
He said the new Labor federal government hoped to work with the Victorian government to provide more crisis accommodation, such as the new facilities at the former Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Center, which offers short-term accommodation to men who they are released from prison and would otherwise be homeless.
The Coburg Motor Inn Credits: Joe Armao
Coburg Motor Inn owner Ian Pan said many people stayed at the motel after they were released from prison and some had a history of violence.
Pan said he sometimes felt insecure, but tried to keep things under control by watching the guests and calling the police when necessary.
He and his staff tried to keep the motel clean, he said, but sometimes guests deliberately soiled the rooms and the damage could not be repaired immediately.
“They ruin things in the room, doors, lights, everything that can be damaged is damaged to wipe away their anger sometimes.”
Pan said there were very few motels left ready to accommodate homeless guests or that they had been released from prison.
“We have talked to some organizations, they say they need this type of service. We could become a normal motel, make some renovations and stop hosting them, but these people would be homeless on the street, all of them. “
Moreland City Council said it had visited the Coburg Motor Inn this year in response to complaints and conducted a routine general inspection.
“As a result of these inspections, city officials have requested the cooperation of operators to improve the standard of the facilities,” a council spokesman said.
The Coburg Motor Inn has been known for years.
In 2019, it was ranked among the “safest and lowest quality options” for emergency accommodation along with the now-closed StayInn Motel in Coburg North and Nico’s Backpackers, according to the report Crisis in Crisis II: A Way Forward .
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Three years ago, North and West Homeless Networks, which represent 50 homeless and domestic violence organizations in Melbourne, said they would no longer refer people to insecure motels and pensions as a form of housing. emergency.
But some services that are part of the North and West homeless networks continue to divert customers to the Coburg Motor Inn because, they say, they have no choice.
Launch Housing says it is concerned about safety and conditions at Coburg Motor Inn and only refers to customers as a last resort.
“Unfortunately, this is an example of the impossible decisions we have to make to put a roof over someone’s head,” a spokesman said.
Coburg Motor Inn owner Ian Pan said guests would sometimes damage the rooms. Credit: Joe Armao
Launch Housing has not sent families, women escaping domestic violence or young people to the Coburg Motor Inn for several years due to the conditions of the accommodation.
“We predominantly refer to very complex single customers who have no other options and have often been banned from accessing other private accommodation,” the Launch Housing spokesman said.
“Launch Housing does not consider the $ 110 per night at Coburg Motor Inn to be value for money, but unfortunately this is the current reality of the private market in the absence of adequate crisis accommodation stock in Melbourne. important need to invest more in more appropriate and safe crisis accommodation in Melbourne, especially for single people. “
VincentCare, The Salvation Army and Unison, which are also part of the North and West Homeless Networks, declined to comment.
Coburg Motor Inn ChairCredit: Joe Armao
The Victorian government said it was developing a more coordinated approach to using motels for emergency accommodation for domestic violence.
“Victoria Men is taking reports of unsafe conditions seriously and, when reported for non-compliance, has issued guidelines to prevent homelessness agencies from referring people to specific accommodation until the issues are resolved,” he said. a government spokesman.
When Belell Khodr was released on bail this month after being charged with three counts of arson, he says the court’s integrated services program, which offers defendants emergency accommodation, referred him to Coburg Motor. Inn.
Belell Khodr, who was taken to the Coburg Motor Inn on bail, said he was reluctant to leave his room. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
“It was like a horror story, it didn’t seem right at all, but I really couldn’t complain because it was part of my bail conditions,” Khodr says.
“People would knock on your door asking for cigarettes, drugs, anything they could have on their hands. There was a lot of commotion, a lot of screaming and screaming and a lot of alcohol and drug use in that place. I didn’t want to leave my room. “
He said the couple running the Coburg Motor Inn were nice people but did not have enough staff.
One night he said a police officer, who called the motel for a disturbance in a nearby room, knocked on his door to see if he was okay. “I couldn’t wait to get out of there.”
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Khodr says he will always be grateful to his support worker, who eventually took him to Launch Housing’s crisis accommodation, where he feels safe and has access to support services. “They help you and they give you food too.”
Vaughan Winther, director general of the Australian Community Support Organization, which works with people in the justice system, said the Coburg Motor Inn was a symbol of many unsafe places where people were placed after leaving. the prison.
“It will close because Nick Cave’s son died there, but now I can tell you that a lot of people are dying [in such places] that they do not receive any means of communication “.
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