Richmond residents in and around Murphy St have appealed to authorities to deal with high levels of drug activity and anti-social behaviour associated with a public housing block in the street.
The residents have created an informal group and have had two meetings with the Department of Families Fairness and Housing and Victoria Police in the past month, with the first meeting including a representative of Yarra City Council.
It was the first time the bodies had met with residents over complaints of drug dealing and drug use which is rife in the area.
It was disclosed at the second meeting that there had been 38 triple-0 calls from Murphy St alone in the month of July.
One resident, Christine (surname supplied), said people were fed up with the lack of action. "It is intolerable," she said. "We cannot be expected to live like this. We have provided police with documented situations, but that is not enough."
There are regularly up to 100 syringes on the footpath outside the public housing block. "It gets cleaned up because we've pushed for it," Christine says.
There were around 40 residents now involved in the group, which started six weeks ago.
Members include residents from Murphy St and Highett St, who have experienced similar problems with anti-social behaviour in the laneway that joins the two streets.
Group members say that as well as injecting, the drug users urinate and defecate in the lane. "People can't use their garages because of what is going on," Christine says.
The group will continue updating authorities on incidents and wants to see progress within six weeks. Residents will contemplate other forms of action if the anti-social behaviour is not corrected.
People can't use their garages because of what is going on
- Murphy St resident
