But for years both men entered the vicious cycle of unregistered rooming houses, where how they lived and what they saw will stay with them forever.

At the last illegal rooming house Mr Delfino lived, in St Albans, his room was a former pantry.

"I was paying $145 per week for this tiny room that just fitted a single bed in it," he said.

Peter, also living in an unregistered house in St Albans, had to go to hospital for a few days. Someone broke into his room and stole all his belongings, and another person slept in his bed.

Peter was also scammed by dodgy house managers. House managers act on behalf of the landlord, who send them around to the houses to collect rent money. The problem for Peter was, the house managers would take his money, put it in their own pocket and tell the landlord he wasn't paying his rent.

"I've ended up with a shocking credit rating because they took legal action against me, but I was paying," he said.

Both men have plenty of stories of rampant drug use, overdoses, bashings, robberies and filthy conditions.

"You wouldn't even want a dog living in some of these places," Mr Delfino said.

"The people that run these places, they prey on the most vulnerable people who they can rip off and who they know won't go to the police."

Both the men now live in the only registered rooming house in Brimbank, in Sunshine.

"The rent is a lot cheaper and the conditions are 100per cent better for us. The problem is there aren't many in Brimbank and people don't know these places exist," Mr Delfino said.

Both men told their stories to the Advocate to raise awareness of how bad unregistered rooming houses are.

Peter discussed how revolting bathrooms could be.

"I jumped in the shower one day and the screen was just full of body fat. I already felt sick from that, then I felt something at my feet. I looked down and there was a huntsman and even worse the whole bottom of the shower was filled with earwigs."