Our seedy underbelly

Chloe (20) has been living here for months. It stinks of urine, is dirty and there are no ablutions to speak of.

Both young people rely on a meagre allowance from Centrelink and food from the soup kitchen.

Chloe has been living rough since she was 11 ” staying in hostels and foster homes on and off.

‘I ran away from the hostels, though. I was thinking about cleaning up the graffiti on the fences and building, so we can stay. We’ve made our own little home,’ she said.

If they were not living in the derelict building on Davy Street, they would find another empty building somewhere else.

‘We can’t get inside. We just want some shelter ” we want to live life,’ Chloe said.

‘All we think about is putting food on the table. There are homeless shelters in Mandurah but there aren’t enough. They only have beds for a few people.’

Living life on the street is also dangerous.

‘People wake you up by kicking you,’ Chloe said.

‘Bad stuff happens; when (Tauri Litchfield) was murdered we were just down the street and that is pretty scary.

‘I’ve been trying to get a job, but that’s hard when you have no fixed address.’