Resort is anything but paradise for dwellers

RESIDENTS at a Far North resort are being turfed out with nowhere to go – and those left behind are living in concerning conditions.

Barely habitable villas at Kuranda Resort are home to those with no other option, and they are living without basics like hot water.

Past the graffiti, smashed-up cars, piles of rubbish and through overgrown paths at what initially seems to be a deserted resort, families live precariously in the shadows.

Mareeba Community Housing manager Patricia Goldfinch said her organisation was working with about 30 families given eviction notices after a liquidator was appointed over about two-thirds of the shacks.

“There are a number of owners in that consortium and liquidators have been appointed over one of the owners of about 30 units,” Ms Goldfinch said.

“Some of the units have been boarded up in the last 10 days; some people have been locked out of their units already.

“There’s still others living there, in a deplorable situation – some of them don’t have electricity, running water only in the bathroom, and no cooking facilities,” Ms Goldfinch said.

Annalisa Buchanan is paying $200 a week rent to live in a one-bedroom villa with a rotting staircase, no hot water and holes in grubby walls.

Ms Buchanan said there was often violence at neighbouring properties.

“It gets pretty scary sometimes – you go out to the car and wonder if it will have its tyres slashed or a windscreen smashed,” she said.

“There’s yelling and screaming – you can literally hear people having punches connected to them, you can hear the thuds, you can hear things getting smashed. One woman had a bottle thrown through a glass window.

“It is very depressing – when I first walked in, all I could smell was urine,” Ms Buchanan said.

She said MP for Barron River Craig Crawford had recently visited and was “appalled”.

The Cairns Post has sought comment from Mr Crawford and from Mareeba Shire Council.