Boarding house shut down in wake of Kate Langbroek attack

A NOTORIOUS crime-ridden and anti-social Melbourne rooming house has been shut down by the Victorian State government amid escalating complaints about residents.

The order to close the Regal rooming house in St Kilda follows an angry campaign by St Kilda resident and radio host Kate Langbroek, after she was received bruises in an attack by a ‘crazed” man last Friday night.

A furious Langbroek, who struggled with the “crazed, violent” man at the front gate, and then the front door of the family home, had demanded politicians protect residents and clean up the area, where crime has worsened.

She said crime was rising in St Kilda, with some streets a “hell hole” for residents.

“They’re having stuff thrown at them. There’s drug dealing blatantly in the street. There’s a trail of zombies going up there to get their drugs or whatever,” she said.

Announcing the closure of the Regal, State Housing Minister Martin Foley said there had been an unacceptable level of anti-social behaviour in and around the Regal in Little Grey Street.

The state government will fund Port Phillip Housing Association’s application to close the notorious boarding house “pretty much straight away”, he said.

“The level of unsocial activities that have been emanating in and around the rooming house has been an issue I have been working on for some months now with the community, with Victoria Police and the housing provider,” Mr Foley told reporters.

Langbroek welcomed news of the closure, but called for 24-hour security until it has shut down completely.

Her campaign had begun when she had shared a picture of her injuries sustained last Friday night, saying to Victorian Housing minister Martin Foley: “This is the bruise I sustained trying to keep that ‘vulnerable’ resident from kicking our front door in on Friday night,” she wrote. “The real vulnerable are the decent citizens of St Kilda. We await your action.”

On radio she told her listeners “the people we have elected to solve the problems are not solving the problems. People who are living good, decent lives are having those lives compromised by people who have chosen to do the opposite.”

Langbroek upped the ante again on Thursday morning, appearing on morning television, unleashing again.

“The police are ultimately wasting their time because this guy, when the detectives arrived one of them said, ‘I know him. I arrested him six weeks ago.’ And then a senior sergeant arrived later and said, ‘I know him. I arrested him two weeks ago,’” she revealed in an interview on the Today show.

“My taxes are supporting this guy who is trying to kick my front door in, and my taxes are paying for the cops to come to try and sort him out and my taxes are paying judges and magistrates who are letting them out. It is not sustainable. It is not right. And I don’t know where it’s going to end, but my God I’m so pissed off about it.”

On Sunrise, she said politicians were completely out of touch..

“The reality of what is going on in our daily lives is missed by these people that we are voting for, and they’re using weasel words to us, like ‘community’ and the ‘vulnerable.’”

Mr Foley said there were 48 shared units for men at the rooming house with about 24 still housing tenants, despite efforts to shut the facility in the past few months.

He said $6 million would fund its closure and a complete refit to include 37 self-contained units for “older women”.

The existing male tenants will be relocated to other housing. The shutdown follows the 2017 fate of the nearby notorious Gatwick rooming house, home to some of Melbourne’s neediest residents, but also the scene of several murders drug overdoses.

A man charged over the Langbroek incident will face court in May, police said.

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