FREMANTLE councillor Ben Lawver wants to see “tiny house villages” set up across the city to help people sleeping rough — and he’s making the idea one of the centrepieces of his campaign for mayor in October’s council elections.
“One of the things that I’d like to see us do immediately or as soon as possible, is — in Seattle, they do these little tiny house villages,” Cr Lawver said.
“They have about 14 of them… about 50 per cent of the people that enter into those tiny house villages wind up finding rentals on the private market.
“So it’s just getting that first step up.”
Cr Lawver said calling homelessness a “complex problem” was “accurate, but also a cop out.”
“If we can get, let’s say, a tiny village of 10, that’s 10 less people on the street,” he said.
“There’s a program that Rotary is involved that looks really amazing, and all that we would need to do, from a city perspective, is find some land.
“It’s almost self-funding, and it’d be really amazing to see that happen.”
The councillor said the village model could help tackle drug and alcohol issues by bringing support services on-site, and help people relearn basic skills such as cooking and social interaction.
He doesn’t see the villages popping up around the CBD or in heavily residential areas, but says O’Connor’s a possibility.
He revealed the idea was inspired partly by his own experience: “I was homeless for about 10 months when I was younger, but when I slept somewhere, I always tidied up… I think if we’re going to be compassionate — which we are — we can also expect a little bit more from people sleeping around.”
Cr Lawver said he’d been encouraged to run by “a diverse group of different people from across the entire political spectrum” who wanted “a mayor who’s genuine, who’s honest, and who’s got some real leadership.”
Some, he said, felt the current mayor, Hannah Fitzhardinge, hadn’t taken “a firm enough stance on the AUKUS deal” and “hasn’t stood up for Fremantle people” on issues like the bridge replacement and keeping a working port.
On the looming traffic chaos from the Fremantle traffic bridge closure, Cr Lawver says there doesn’t seem to have been a sense of urgency about dealing with the impact on the community – particularly small businesses he’s worried will be hit hard.
“I’ll be calling for a free transit zone or reinstatement of the CAT buses,” he said.
“We need to be figuring out how that’s going to work right now.”
He also wants urgent consultation with CBD and North Fremantle businesses about possible parking changes, saying a temporary fee might discourage people from jumping in their cars and make them consider public transport options.
He criticised the lack of freight management planning, saying the port should ban empty trucks at peak times. “Something like 20 per cent of the trucks that come arrive or leave the port do so empty,” he said.
“If we can get less empty running… that will reduce the number of trucks accessing the port.”
On Westport, Cr Lawver said: “There has been no set of facts, no reality on the ground that has caused Westport to change their view that the port needs to go by the mid-2030s.
“The rush to move the port should really be re-evaluated.”
Planning reform would also be high on his agenda, with concerns about large developments bypassing council via JDAPs.
“Our scheme is just not fit for purpose… every week that goes by, more applications are going in that aren’t really going to be assessed against what our community wants.”
He said height limits and “community benefit” provisions needed clearer definitions: “This is the height that we want in this area, and that’s it… not having it be so complex, and in some places contradictory to itself.”
Cr Lawver also wants to open up vacant city-owned buildings to artists on peppercorn rents in exchange for guaranteed cultural programs, pointing to Victoria Hall as an example.
“If we want to keep our mantle as a creative city, we need to be providing more practical support to artists,” he said.
by STEVE GRANT