A plan is in the making for an educational facility for people with special needs to rejuvenate the troubled Dandenong Hub Arcade.
A shop adjacent to the Hub’s food court is being eyed for the facility, with the food court to be transformed into culinary classes for people with autism and other special needs.
Vincent Golf, a listing and selling agent at First National Hall and Partners, is the first one to come up with the idea and working with stakeholders to turn it into a reality, a bright opportunity for families.
“It’s a beautiful thing for young kids and young adults with disabilities.”
However, the location has its own issues of rough sleepers that creep inside the hub from evening onwards to secure sleeping spots.
Shops inside the hub are also reportedly being broken into and looted, causing extensive damage.
Mr Golf says this does not deter the plans, which may help to eradicate some of these issues.
He says homelessness in the area is not getting any better.
“The homeless people like to be in dark places where there’s no other people around and that’s the Hub at the moment – it’s dark.
“If there’s more activity in the Hub during the day it’s less likely the homeless people will be there.”
As reported previously by Star Journal, the arcade of 67 leased shops is privately owned by several entities.
Shop owner Stephen Rodgers is the head of the Dandenong Hub Committee also advocating for better conditions.
He is one of the many shops that have agreed to the education plan, saying it’s a great idea to address the “snowballing” issues at the Hub.
“We needed to get extra traffic in that place.
“Dandenong is a particular problem, there’s an awful amount of crime in the area.
“When Headspace opened up here, it attracted a lot of druggies into that area and once they understand the layout of the building, they think this could be a hotel.”
There are 45 rough sleepers in City of Greater Dandenong according to the Dandenong Zero website, a project partnering Greater Dandenong Council and Launch Housing since 2022.
Overall, there’s 70 listed as homeless including nine in temporary stable housing, eight in respite or hotels and eight unknowns.
In April, Greater Dandenong had 53 rough sleepers, the highest amount since the beginning of 2025.
“The housing crisis is somewhat caused by the Government,” Mr Golf says.
“I’ve got a client that’s been waiting 12 months for builders warranty insurance, something that should take six weeks.
“Now if we had it in six weeks’ time, it would be built by now and more families could be off the streets and in housing but it’s because of these hold-ups there’s a strangle-hold on the entire Victoria building market.”
His client had already spent $3 million worth of works on support pillars and concrete plus a 12-month holding cost in mortgage.
Greater Dandenong mayor Jim Memeti welcomes investment at the Hub especially when it comes to education, saying the issues surrounding the Hub aren’t long-term.
“I think with proper planning, proper security measures a bit of assistance from Victoria Police – I think it’s not a long-term problem.”
The hub’s security guards patrol the area from 2pm to 6pm.
One of the guards, Wajid Anjum, has been in the job only for few months and is already thinking of calling it quits.
He says he’s being targeted by those causing issues at the hub for just doing his job.
“It’s a dangerous area here, every day is terrible.
“When I try to stop these people, they fight with me. Last week I was kicked by a woman.”
Mike has been sleeping rough since last year. Mr Anjum considers him one of the nice guys who doesn’t create much problem.
“We don’t break into offices, we just find somewhere to sleep,” Mike says.
“Maybe the boys just take their drink, smoke their weed and cigarettes and they relax.
“The boys are OK, they never steal.”
As previously reported by Star Journal, many of the businesses inside the Hub say they have been long bearing the brunt of drug activities, as rough sleepers cause havoc late at night.
