Inside Melbourne’s 'Skid Row' in wealthy neighbourhood

In the back streets of one of Melbourne's most exclusive waterfront suburbs lies a dark secret.And the difference between its wealthy residents and their multi -million dollar homes and their poverty stricken, drug addled neighbours could not be more stark or disturbing.

Yeah, 1105 last night, she passed away from lung cancer.Oh, lung disease, sorry.

What do you think happens when you have a situation where you have people that have everything in the whole goddamn world living across the street from people that have nothing?You end up in a predatory environment where we start to prey on them.Because we, at the end of the day, have absolutely nothing.We have nothing left to lose.We have everything left to lose.

Yeah, I'd love to have a job.I'd love to work, like, anything outdoor work.Yeah, but no one would hire me because of, you know, drug screens and stuff.But I'd get off it all for my kids, for these guys here, if I had a job and stuff.

Do you hold much hope that something in your life in this area is going to change?

I want out of this area.

I know before you were saying that this place is steeply declined, but I don't actually think it's steeply declined.It's been pretty f***ed the entire time I've been here.Like, when I got here, I've been stabbed more than, like, half a dozen times here.

You've been stabbed f***ing more than half a dozen times.

I'll show you.

I'm up here, there, and then slashed up across here, my back.

I was going to the hospital about two hours ago.

Wayne Flower here reporting for the Daily Mail in Port Melbourne.As you can see, Port Melbourne is a very well -to -do area, just really south of the city.You've got a lot of ex -footballers, current footballers, celebrities dwell up and down here, just to my left here and on Bay Street.It's a very well -to -do area.Well, it has been.If you go around just off Bay Street, Down some of the side streets around here, beautiful multi -million dollar properties.

Settled amongst them is a housing commission block.It is nothing short of hell on earth.It has been described as Melbourne's own skid row.We will take you inside this hell mouth and show you exactly what is going on in there.We spoke to their far more wealthy neighbors who live around the building.These people have become victims themselves from the rampant crime emanating from that building complex.

I spoke to one neighbor who said they have knives, people are stabbed, the police are out here all of the time, there are needles everywhere, it needs to be knocked down.It is a housing commission building unlike any other in the city of Melbourne.This place is dilapidated, it is falling apart, it is an eyesore, it is horrid and that is just on the outside.On the inside it is next level bad.Inside hereyou have what is suggested to be about 100 people living within this building.

Most of those people, it's suggested, are not actual residents.They are squatters in that place.Because as people move out, they bolt up the doors, they board them up.They would rather live there.than out on the streets.Can you just tell us a little bit about yourself, Cassie?

How long you've lived here and what life is like living here?

I'm originally from Perth and I moved to Melbourne in 2014.I lived in Hatton East at first, which is a lot better than here.But I've been here since 2017, I think.Somewhere I thought was firmly orientated, people were nice and stuff until Right there.Since I lived here, no.It's disgusting.

Cassie, you've had quite a traumatic experience just in the last 24 hours.What has happened?

So, last Friday I got at 9pm, so I got a phone call from the NHS telling me to be prepared.My youngest baby was in hospital and that she might not make it through the night.And then she made it till last night, so yeah, 11 .05 last night.She passed away from lung cancer.Oh, lung disease, sorry.

Your baby aged one, just one, 13 months.Just a one -year -old has died overnight from lung disease.

Two hours a day, two hours a day.It was one and a half hours a day I got with her in hospital, supervised by DHS, me and the room, DHS.And then the last two days, yesterday and the day before, I got two visits, two hours with her.That was it, nothing else.

Now this environment that you're in Cassie, I mean it is clear to say it is not a pleasant environment.to be.What is this environment?What is it like living here?Who are your neighbours?

I live between two other ladies, which are both nice.To me, the environment is not healthy to live in, but I'm used to it and I feel safe and comfortable.

You've got an interesting sign out there.side of your house.What is that?Describe that sign and tell us what that's about.GHB was Cassie's safety blanket.A whopping 50 mils a day to help numb the pain of a wretched existence.

Any drug addict will tell you a couple of drops of gamma -hydroxybutyrate can be enough to kill you.Cassie is using enough to knock out a baby elephant.Some of your neighbours were saying that over the last maybe five years or so, this particular building that you're in now, say 10 years ago, there was a lot of, it was sort of a mix.There was families in here.What has been, what has happened in this place in recent times?

Like it was family orientated.There was kids that were on just drugs and like people squatting and stuff that's taken over.And yeah, like they moved on because of people breaking in and people like robbing them and stuff.DHS involvements.

Yeah, so crime is clearly rampant in this building.

Yeah, crime, um, yeah, like, they go out, like, people go and steal bikes, steal people, like, break into cars and stuff.You know, drugs.Yeah.People for drugs, I suppose, yeah.There's no mix of normal people, it's just junkies.And I can't say that I'm not one, because I used to, so.

But my needles ran around in my house, which are mine, and I'm in one, but they go outside my house, you see.So, yeah.Like, but lots of people around here just chuck their needles in the gutter, no lids, or they put them in the dirt, no lids, you know, there's kids around, they're getting stabbed by them.Like, you know, they're the ones I call junkies.They're probably the sh** I like.

Yeah.Do you think this place has become a bit of a sort of a skid row in Port Melbourne?

It's gotta be up there with them.Like, it's disgusting.I'd rather be back home in Perth, it's clean there, like, people are good there.Yeah, there's people who use the stuff, but you can't really call them junkies because it's not like here.

Yeah.And what happens here, I mean, when you come here during the day, you know, you've got your neighbours around here, they're cleaning, they're tidying.What happens at night?

At night time, like, it's pretty much quiet.You don't notice that anyone's really out and about, but like, there's like, they just come out, like, out of the dark, like, shadows and stuff.They seem to be yelling sometimes from the other side of the units.My side's pretty quiet, but you don't really notice many people from my side out and about.

Yeah.Are the police here regularly?

They do now, like they do, they drive around a couple of times a night to the surveillance.But they never used to be like that.They used to be able to walk me straight at night time.And then one night I got knocked out by someone down Bath Place.Just because he was behind me, just knocked me out.Kicked me in the head a few times and stuff.

Stole my handbag, but then he got chased by two guys out of nowhere.Dropped my bag once I got that back.But yeah, that was like three years, four years ago.

What do you put it down to?What is happening here?

The drugs are gone.Drugs are not what drugs used to be, I think.And then people wanting more, now they can get more by crime.

And are you saying too that when the drugs have gone, ****, are you talking about that the quality drugs are being mixed badly?Are you talking about fentanyl?Is fentanyl something that's happening around here?

I was in the mess, but I don't notice it.When I do have a hit, like I'll still go to sleep, but I'll put it down to ADHD still.But it's just, yeah, the colour's like sugar or something, or they're just not getting what they should be getting and stuff.

And are people being, I mean, apart from the damage, the drugs and this environment is doing them in general, are people being hurt?Are people being assaulted?Is that sort of stuff happening?

Yeah, people, it's been a few murders the last few years, definitely, around here.Some guy just got stabbed the other night.Like, I think I know why, but since he was stealing someone's bike, but the bike was returned, so if he got stabbed over that, then that's pretty sad, but the bike was returned.It was back in the spot where it was originally stolen from.

And what about the locals here?Are they getting caught up in the mayhem that's going on in this place?

Yeah, I don't think so.I think so, yeah.I don't even know who the locals are because I haven't been here long enough.Other than that lady and that lady next door, they keep to themselves, so they're pretty much okay.But yeah, people are disrespectful to them.

Do you think if...What is the solution here?What needs to be done?Does this place need to be...

Sorry, just sort of open it.

That's right.Do you think that this place needs to be bulldozed and something else needs to happen here?

It needs to be bulldozed and people in commission shouldbe in a single, like, a single storey house.Like, like, because I live, well, my backyard looks like a rubbish tip because I live in these units.People throw their rubbish in the backyard, their needles and stuff.My pets can't go out there.If I had my kids here, there's no way they could go out there and play.

So, yeah, it all needs to be bulldozed.Or people like families at least have just, even like pets and stuff, just their own backyard and stuff.Because I can't let her go out the back without being out there as well.

Yeah, and is anyone listening to you?I mean, the residents here would obviously be saying, look, this place is a major concern.They're all in multi -million dollar properties and this place looks like it's literally falling.

Yeah.

Falling apart.

The way I see it, the rich people, the people of those places, even just like the ones in the high -rise and stuff, not so much them, but the ones with their own houses and stuff, they just say that they've earned it, they pay for it.So it's kind of, yeah.I'd love to work, I'd love to have a job.Not being selling.I hate selling.It's not enough.

I pay for 400 bucks a fortnight on pets just to get their food.I get 500 and something.Most of it goes on them.Bills.I don't pay bills.I won't say why.

It's not my name.But if I was paying for bills and stuff, I've got a choice to have them or not have them.But without them, I would have nothing.I'd love to have a job.I'd love to work anything outdoor work.But no one would hire me because of drug screens and stuff.

But I'd get off it all for my kids, for these guys here, who had a job and stuff.

Do you hold much hope that something in your life in this area is going to change?

I want out of this area, that's all I've got for it.It's pretty sad, but each for their own, so I don't really care about it.much like the older ladies yeah these two but the rest of the people I couldn't care for them.I mean the kids yeah like little kids and stuff I care for like their health their hopes and them getting out of here and getting like getting some of their lives but for the ones that use drugs I'm not friends with them.

What would you say to anyone thinking about moving into Port Melbourne in this area?

Don't move me now.Stay as far away as you can.It's a beautiful area, the beach is down the road but it's disgusting.

Now if you talk to neighbours and the people living inside here, it really hit the skids about four or five years ago.Before then there was a good mix of families and other people living inside this building and everybody who buys a house around this street, around this area, they knew what they were getting in for.They knew that this building was there and they understand that the kind of destitute people who come with a building like this.But it's not really what they signed on for how it is now.These houses around here are built somewhat like fortresses.And you can understand why, because the residents inside that house, they make no bones about it.

They do prey on, you know, the good folk around here.They feel as though they're being looked down upon and they're forgotten.Ethan, just, I guess, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to find yourself living...

Ah, alright.Originally I was on Phillip Island and I was working down there in hospitality.Then my mum got arrested and she was being prosecuted in New South Wales.I got the kids together, made sure I looked after the family.Then slowly got worked out the situation by DHS and lost my job.Then ended up in a situation where I had nowhere to stay.

So I ended up going into public housing.After a stint down in St. Kilda, then one in Bellaclava, I ended up here.And I know before you were saying that this place is steeply declined, but I don't actually think it's steeply declined.It's been pretty ****ed the entire time I've been here.Like when I got here, I've been stabbed more than like half a dozen times here.

You've been stabbed more than half a dozen times.I'll show you.

I'm up here.There.Slash them across here.I'm back.

That's all I was going to the hospital about, so I actually fixed all this s*** myself.

You look like John Rambo.

Yeah, that's what I said.They just asked me to be here for like a couple of years.And this place was already like that when I got here.So...How many years have you been here?I've been here for like five years.

Yeah, sadly the word seems to be that in the last five years this place really went downhill.Well, I can guarantee you it has.

I don't know what it was like before, but it's f***ing gone to s*** now.Yeah, like I said.This place is pretty much mostly empty right now.People are still getting pushed out of here, because the place is supposed to be getting renovated, or demolished, I'm not 100 % sure.So, what, half a dozen apartments are currently empty at all times.I don't know what move anyone into, because they're slowly trying to move us all out.

Personally, I think that's not actually fair.You just leave a place fully, like, open like that when you have people on the street.So, I personally know people, and I actually invite people to come over here, square around here, and push them into the shallow.If you go up the street, and here is an option, and it's already sitting empty, why the f*** are they coming around here?Yeah, so people may think that squatters are actually part of the problem here, but it's just that we call it a by -product of the problem.which is a system that doesn't actually do that.

If you actually just look at the laundry rooms around here, half of them don't even open.Most of the machines are tired, they're broken, and don't even get me started about maintenance.God knows when those things were cleaned.These things have been here for like 30, 40 years.God knows how long those washing machines have been here.It looks like about the same time, and no one's ever maintained them or serviced them.

Maybe all the skin and grime used to have acid on that.I don't use those machines.Well, I am washing my sh**.

Yeah, but despite those hardships that you're enduring here, you are determined to stay here.No, I'm determined to have nowhere else to go.And you just say you've lived in some pretty bad places.You come from St Kilda.Yeah, well, it's better than the street.And this is the worst, you say?

Yeah.

And what do you think about the people who live around this area?

What do you think happens when you have a situation where you have people that have everything in the whole goddamn world living across the street from people that have nothing?You end up in a predatory environment where we start to prey on them.Because we, at the end of the day, have absolutely nothing.We have nothing left to lose.We have everything left to lose.And yet, they start to, what do you call it, look down upon us for even being here in the first place, because they probably raised lots of trouble because of us and **** like that.

And then they start to, what do you call it, victimize us and actually ridicule us online, on social media and things like that.I think we don't want to find out.And then when we start to see it, like, they're ****ing on the street and things like that, we think to ourselves, okay, should we just take it for ourselves?Or should we just let this victimize a piece of **** and get away with it?Yeah.So, what do you do?

That's your situation.You actually have ordinary people and desperate people turning against families and s**t like that.It's just across the street and we should be neighbours and we should actually be getting along.Because we come from different slices of life, we could never get along.

Do you have much hope for change for your life in general here?

Honestly man, you wouldn't be here if you did.This is the last stop, it's the village of the damned.

Both Ethan and Cassie asked for nothing from the Daily Mail.Opening their doors and speaking up, despite knowing full well the wider public shares little sympathy for them.Daily Mail contacted Victoria's Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Port Phillip Council and Victoria Police about the situation.All resident concerns, incidents and matters of safety are taken seriously.A review of the site has been undertaken in collaboration with Victoria Police and City of Port Phillip to develop a plan to improve living conditions and amenity.The department refers residents to support services where appropriate and with their consent.

Victoria Police simply stated it was a matter for DFFH and We respond to incidents." Port Phillip Council did not bother to respond at all.National Homeless Collective founder Donna Stolzenberg told Daily Mail she expected the situation for all involved to get much worse.It's a completely broken system that has a cycle of taxpayers not wanting their dollars wasted on having it fixed.So it gets worse and then there's only more and more to fix.And we all know about these places in Richmond.

You've got the needle injecting rooms there, St Kilda, Brunswick.These are mostly, you know, they've been in the media, notorious places.This one has gone under the radar, but it shouldn't be because it's the absolute pits.It is the village of the damned in there.And really for the residents living in there,area and the people living in this building there really is no hope.