Tony Engellenner sits down on the edge of his bed at the Coburg Motor Inn. The room is small, but it's clean, and safe. It's got a toilet, a TV, and a kitchenette that he probably won't use.
"It's pretty good here, mate," he says. "It's really not bad at all."
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This is the first day in six months Mr Engellenner has had a roof over his head. His past week was spent sleeping outside Flinders Street station, where he was attacked once and robbed twice. On Wednesday, he was relishing some rare "peace and quiet".
At $130 a night, though, he can only afford to stay here until Thursday.
"When the money runs out, I have to leave again," he sighs, "sleeping under train stations, because there's just nowhere else around for me."
The Coburg Motor Inn, on the northern end of Sydney Road, is one of a number of temporary lodgings - motels, hotels and residential rehabilitation - where more homeless people from the Flinders Street camp will be put up in coming days.
The motel's receptionist says about 20 of its 30 rooms on Wednesday night were being subsidised by the government or social services organisations.
"It's like this all the time, though," she says. "Some days it's even more rooms that are subsidised."
![Tony Engellenner, 55, in his temporary room at the Coburg Motor Inn.](/web/20170201080124im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/3/a/y/8/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu38u3.png/1485935901162.jpg)
Another homeless man, Matt, 42, left the Flinders Street camp earlier this week and moved into a room at the motel being paid for by the Salvation Army.
"I've been sleeping rough for a couple of weeks now," he says.
![The Coburg Motor Inn.](/web/20170201080124im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/3/a/y/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu38u3.png/1485935901162.jpg)
"The place is clean, suitable for me ... it would be suitable to anyone really."
Mr Engellenner says he has been languishing on the state government's public housing waiting list for 15 years after facing a family breakdown.
When the money runs out, I have to leave again.
Tony Engellenner
"The government's done nothing to help me," he says. "They took me off the list because I stayed at my brother's house for a bit ... now I'm sleeping under train stations because I've got nowhere else to go."
While Mr Engellenner is grateful for his room at the motel, it does not enjoy a good reputation on hotel recommendation websites.
"The place was so bad it was comical," one reviewer on TripAdvisor writes.
Another calls it, "the worst motel I've ever seen in my life". That reviewer claimed her shower was full of cigarette butts, and strangers tried to break into her room at night.
"We just survived 3 nights in this hell hole," begins another review. "When we closed the door it had patched holes and two bolts ripped off the door - the kitchenette had ants, the curtains had holes, and the bathroom was foul."
Another notes: "Could not stay there at all, would not house my dog there".
TripAdvisor lists 26 reviews for the Sydney Road establishment, 14 of which are "terrible".
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