Most of the homes have been torn down. Many of the remaining buildings are squalid and unlivable, in part due to damage by the tenants themselves. A WA government-commissioned audit in 2018 found no major refurbishments had been made to properties here in decades.
"[The government] started stripping and knocking down buildings, now we're homeless and our people are living on the streets," Mr Stokes says. "We're nothing — that's how they treat us, like nothing, nobody, just a waste of time and space."
Repairs and maintenance are an ongoing issue, with tenants saying some requests for service have previously been ignored for months or years. "The people pay bills … they [ACHL] take the money, but they don't send anybody to do the work," Mr Stokes says. ACHL did not respond to the ABC's questions, and directed the enquiry back to the department.
Kalgoorlie's homelessness rate, recorded during the latest Census in 2021, was almost twice the national average. Locals say some rough sleepers find refuge in abandoned buildings, like the train yard on the edge of town.
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