Residents on ‘vampire alley’ plead for help from Department of Communities after terrifying incidents

Residents of a troubled, notorious public housing block on Station Road are pleading with authorities to act to protect them. The residents of the Department of Communities-owned apartments, dubbed “vampire alley” by people living there, told the Times a spate of violent and terrifying incidents in recent months left them fearing for their safety. Police have attended the complex numerous times, but residents were frustrated and perplexed at no intervention by Communities to evict trouble tenants, including a 42-year-old man convicted in January of growing 114 mature cannabis plants plus more than 200 seedlings in his public housing unit. Marion Antony St-Barbe Jones was placed on a community-based order after he was found guilty of cultivating a prohibited plant, obstructing police, and disorderly conduct after an incident on November 20 last year. Residents whom the Times has chosen not to name said they were living in terror, and women and old people were at risk, as well as living with untenable stress. One man described how he’d intervened when a female resident was nearly stabbed by a tenant who was later subject to police intervention. The Station Road apartments were a notorious locale for neighbours who told the Times of a steady stream of police attendances going back years. But Communities executive director of service delivery Glenn Mace said the department was satisfied with the effectiveness of its actions under its disruptive behaviour management policy. “Communities has taken appropriate action available to it under the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 to manage tenancies at the Station Road complex, including the issue of strikes for disruptive behaviour,” he said. Margaret River police officer-in-charge Sgt Simone Taplin confirmed officers had “identified a number of social issues at a set of units on Station Road that are resource-demanding”. But issues such as eviction were an issue for the landlord, Sgt Taplin said. “Police have been proactively targeting this area in an attempt to suppress antisocial behaviour,” she said. “We are working closely with the Department of Communities/Housing to address the issue and ensure community safety.” Residents voiced frustration police weren’t able to do more to protect them. Another man described having wooden logs smashed through his window by a tenant, while a second man said it wasn’t good enough people in need of public housing were living in fear on a daily basis. Mr Mace said the drop in misbehaviour as a result of Communities’ three-strikes rule showed the method was effective. While not directly responding to the department’s duty of care to other tenants affected by alleged disorderly behaviour, Mr Mace said Communities “takes its role as a landlord very seriously and responds to all disruptive behaviour complaints”. “When a public housing tenancy receives the maximum number of strikes under the policy, Communities can commence court action to end the tenancy,” he said. “If a strike is issued for dangerous behaviour, activities that pose a demonstrable risk to persons or property, activities that result in injury to a person in the immediate vicinity with subsequent conviction, Communities may take immediate action to evict those responsible.” Residents were urged to report issues to the department’s Disruptive Behaviour Reporting Line on 1300 597 076.