This past couple of weeks and in particular have been a bit of an eye opener at my work. For those not from Victoria or Australia: the western suburbs of Melbourne are predominantly the working and lower class . So as I work there I guess I shouldn't be surprised at running into a few homeless here and there. I guess I ran into a few more than I'm used to this last fortnight. Here's a few of their stories from my brief encounters with them.
Jim: has been recently kicked out of his brother's place that was part of the high rise ministry of housing block. He's temporarily staying in an abandoned building about 50 yards from the housing block. All the windows are smashed no front door and a lot of the floorboards are ripped up. No need to say there's no plumbing or electricity. He was sleeping on an old mattress in a rear room. Earlier that day that room was the last one without smashed windows. A visit from his angry brother who came around for some money he owed obviously wasn't happy with the response he got. The windows are all smashed now. There was a nasty stench coming from a room adjacent the bedroom . My partner who was searching the place checked under the sink. There in plastic bags was the replacement toilet. Yes that is faeces in bags. I guess my offsider was probably looking for drugs. I didn't bother looking because I figured that if he had drugs at any point they would be in his arm a minute later. He wouldn't have the money to have enough to keep for later. The rest of the house was littered with assorted junk and painted with graffiti. On the way out we were pressuring the man for proof that the owner of the place gave him permission to be there. A pointless task that I later regretted saying.
Fred: Lives in a caravan park in Laverton. He's a fork lift driver. I think his work has been scaled back recently as he's only earning a little over $300 a week. The rent, car payments and food prices were getting to an impossible point to juggle. He picked the wrong day to head to Coles for some five finger discount on some meat so he could eat until next pay day. That day Coles had about four undercover loss prevention operatives scoping the store. After we interviewed him back at the station for the theft I was asking about his situation. I asked him if he has tried approaching the Salvos. He said he did and he also tried the local council but both knocked him back because 1. he didn't have a health care card and 2. he had a source of income. I just shook my head and said "your shitting me." He said "No. That's fair dinkum."
Lance: is an Aboriginal bloke in his 20's he has moved away from his people in Country Victoria because he found he had worse problems drinking with them than he did away from them. He moved in with a girl in Melbourne but that was turning sour and she turfed him out that day. Alone and without direction he went looking for grog. He found it in someones backyard shed fridge. He was stocking the person's own eski when the owner of the property sprung him, threw him to the ground and held him. As everyone waited for the police Lance was very apologetic. The family that owned the property sat him up, gave him a seat and brought out some coffee to him! Not surprisingly it was that act of kindness that made him regret what he did the most. It seemed to change his perspective and even his attitude even as he spoke about it to us. It was amazing how much a little bit of grace made a difference to this messed up guy!
So all in all its been an interesting night shift.
