The Broome sobering-up shelter is facing a new set of challenges as the location poses difficulties for people who need to access the facility.
The shelter's purpose is to offer people who are intoxicated and sleeping rough a safe place to stay and sober up, shower, wash their clothes and have breakfast in the morning.
People were previously able to walk into the Walangari Shelter, which was located close to town, but it was closed in October 2021 due to issues with asbestos and the building's structural safety.
A much smaller shelter was opened last December, but it is located a 10-minute drive from the town centre.
The distance meant the shelter had to stop taking self-referred clients as they don't want intoxicated people walking down the highway.
Instead people must be brought in by police, Kularri Patrol or the shelter staff in order to get a bed at the facility.
No other options
Andrew Amor, chief executive of Milliya Rumurra Aboriginal Corporation, which runs the state-government-funded facility, said the new location was a challenge as there were no other options for intoxicated people in Broome.
"The short-stay accommodation is there, but you can't be intoxicated to use the facility.
"The other option is the street really."
The new centre has 12 beds, about half the capacity of the former shelter, which had 26 beds.
Mr Amor said they were yet to reach capacity as they were still working on encouraging people to use the facility.
Mr Amor said finding a new location was difficult and the current facility was the best option available as it already had disability access, but renovations were underway to make it fit for purpose.
"This is only an interim measure, so hopefully we are looking to only be there three years maximum and we'll have a new facility built within the town, closer to the town centre, in that time," he said.
Rough sleepers say the shelter is too far from town
Kukatja woman Mary Njamme, from Balgo, will often sleep rough when she visits Broome.
Ms Njamme said she didn't like to use the sobering-up shelter because of its distance from town.
"We sleep in the street," she said.
"We need the sobering-up shelter back, we need that place to sleep and have a shower."
Kukatja man Raymond Yugumbari, also from Balgo, said he had stayed at the new facility once but agreed it was too far from town.
He said people wanted the freedom to come in and leave of their own accord.
Pick-up service
While the shelter's distance from town may be a deterrent for people to use it, Mr Amor said they were accessing more people who might need support as they were driving around town, picking people up.
"We are now also providing a service," he said.
Mr Amor said he didn't believe another service was necessary as the current capacity was meeting the community's needs.
"If we said previously the shelter was being used at 100-per-cent capacity for 90 per cent of the time, you'd either need to increase bed space or have another service or facility built, but it hasn't been for a number of years," he said.
