Residents are concerned by a nearby facility believed to be housing former criminals. 71723 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By Charlene Gatt
FOOTSCRAY residents are living in fear of two rooming houses on one street that they say are home to convicted criminals and pedophiles.
The rooming houses on Beever St include a 12-room facility and a 10-unit property and are managed by Yarra Community Housing.
Both stand within 200 metres of the Maribyrnong City Council-run Angliss Children’s Centre and Seelaf Square playground.
One resident, who does not want to be named for fear of retribution, said residents were horrified to learn they were living only houses away from criminals.
At least one resident has complained to Footscray Police about the matter.
“It’s not the criminals (that’s the problem), it’s the pedophiles,” the resident said.
“Why are we having these guys in our area so close to a kinder and a park? Why dump them in our area?
“We should be told.
“Since that place has been going, we’ve had stuff stolen out of our front yards, people coming over our back fences.
“There’s a man that’s been sitting on a seat for days and I think ‘am I paranoid, or is he watching the kids in the park?’
“This house is bringing people we don’t need around here, especially where there’s kids.”
Yarra Community Housing CEO Rob Leslie would not confirm or deny the presence of criminals or pedophiles at any of the properties.
“We don’t comment on the people that we house for privacy confidentiality issues,” Mr Leslie told Star last week.
“I wouldn’t want to comment on the people who live in the properties that we manage in respect to their privacy.”
Three State Government departments – the Departments of Justice, Corrections and Housing – also would not comment, saying they could not discuss the placement of any offenders.
But Helen Killmier from the Stepping Up Consortium, which manages and runs the supported transition accommodation program there, confirmed there were offenders living in the homes.
She did not specify if those offenders included pedophiles.
“Stepping Up provides supervised transitional housing for offenders with special needs such as intellectual difficulties,” Ms Killmier said.
“A thorough assessment of all offenders is completed before they are placed in our accommodation to ensure community safety.
“Transitional housing works in the best interests of community safety by giving offenders supervision and the rehabilitative support and treatment they need to avoid reoffending.
“There is 24-hour support available as needed.”
