It may be called The Regal, but life in this St Kilda rooming house is anything but.

Tenants are often too frightened to leave their rooms because of drug-fuelled violence, and now the 28 residents face an uncertain future when the home is shut down.

Chances are they will also be evicted from their local neighbourhood.

The Regal will close "as soon as possible" after mounting safety concerns from nearby residents and traders.

The closure, announced on Thursday, followed radio host Kate Langbroek speaking out about a "crazed, violent and terrifying attack" at her family's St Kilda home earlier this month.

The alleged attacker has not been linked to The Regal, but the incident renewed focus on the suburb's long-running issues with homelessness.

Alternative accommodation will be found for the residents by the charity Launch Housing — a tough job according to CEO Tony Keenan.

He said the likelihood of securing beds in St Kilda looked "pretty slim" due to a shortage of housing for single men in the local area and across the Victoria.

"It's going to be very very difficult to find appropriate and safe housing for anyone in the Port Phillip area," he said.

"We're looking at 30 plus years of policy neglect from successive state and commonwealth governments, and it's coming home to roost now."

Drug-fuelled violence

It is bad news for Harry, a long-term resident of The Regal.

He has lived there for five years and before that, he spent three decades living nearby at the notorious Gatwick rooming house, which closed last year.

Harry wants to stay in St Kilda for medical treatment. ( ABC News: James Hancock )

The 59-year-old suffers poor health and wants to stay near his existing medical providers.

"I would love to keep [staying] around St Kilda," he said.

"I only want to try and get somewhere where it's close because I get access to the clinics."

But Harry is not upset about farewelling The Regal, saying his days have been marred by drug-fuelled violence.

"It hasn't been operated really good at all," he said.

"The tenants are scared to come out of your room because all the violence you get here.

"We get a lot of squatters … and that's where the problem is."

'Nobody will be evicted'

The Port Phillip Housing Association has been running The Regal for 18 years.

The charity has received $6 million from the State Government to turn the rooming house into one-bedroom apartments for mature-age women.

One of the other St Kilda rooming houses, the Gatwick, has been sold for a TV lifestyle program. ( ABC News: James Hancock )

Upper House Liberal MP Margaret Fitzherbert wants a security guard to be stationed at The Regal until all the residents are gone.

The rooming house is only meant to accommodate men, but the ABC this week saw many women and other visitors entering through the security gates.

The Housing Association's CEO Haleh Homaei is standing by current security arrangements, including police patrols.

"That's something that we are working with the police on," she said.

She could not put timeline on how long it would take to find the residents somewhere else to stay.

"Nobody will be evicted, we have to respectfully and in time work with every one of them to make sure that the transition happens calmly," she said.