Port Phillip mayor defends couple who’ve ‘set up camp’ at Elwood beach car park

An Elwood local is frustrated a couple have been able to set up camp in a car park next to the foreshore for six months.

Barbara Strachan first alerted Neil Mitchell to the situation back in March.

It’s been reported they have been offered a place to stay before they set up in Port Phillip.

An exemption to the camping by-laws allows people to do so if they have complex needs or can’t access emergency housing.

“We thought, my goodness they are set up for summer now,” Ms Strachan told Neil Mitchell.

“We thought the cold weather might have flushed them out.

“We can’t believe it, it’s almost doubled in size.”

Port Phillip mayor Bernadene Voss defended the handling of the situation, saying it was complex and they were waiting for priority housing.

“The option is we move them on, they just go somewhere else, we have to solve this problem,” she said.

“We have a lot of people sleeping rough in our city. There’s an epidemic.”

Neil: Are you sure you’ve adequately checked them out.. their needs?

Cr Voss: Our local laws officers would be visiting them everyday.

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