East Perth residents rally against planned conversion of Fraser Suites building into public housing

Australia Broadcast Center

6 days ago

Neighbours of a short-stay hotel earmarked for public housing in Perth's CBD are calling on the WA government to hold open forums to hear their concerns, which they say range from noise pollution to lack of parking.
Nearby residents will gather outside Fraser Suites in East Perth on Saturday morning to protest against the plan to covert the 19-storey tower into 236 social and affordable units.
Four other apartment blocks in the strata group will remain private.Those owners, including resident Ben Stephenson, fear the hotel suites are not designed for long-term living and that common areas will come under strain.
"The more people you get in an area it can become a bit rowdy and become unpleasant for people who don't like that volume of people in one particular area," he said.
Mr Stephenson said they had been denied proper consultation after the state government purchased the serviced apartment building for $105 million.
Mr Stephenson said the Department of Communities had been meeting with people in groups of eight in 20 minute blocks.He said the process was not working and called for bigger Q+A forums to be held so residents' concerns can be heard.Housing Minister John Carey has previously told the ABC the complex would consist of mostly affordable rentals that would house people on lower incomes like retail, hospitality and aged care workers.
The minister said East Perth needed to lift its weight when it came to social housing, having only 3.2 per cent, compared to 11 per cent in nearby Highgate.
The public housing waitlist was 22,315 applications long at the end of May, with many representing multiple people. Of those, 7,291 urgently need a home.