A PUBLIC fundraising campaign is being put together for Fremantle’s Tiny Homes project, which aims to give homeless people living a stepping stone towards independence.

The community-driven Transitional Tiny Housing Pilot Project will house 10 residents at a time who will be provided with wrap-around support services for up to three years. 

Ros De Souza has been one of the project’s driving forces and says the idea grew out of years’ worth of frustration watching the same problems on repeat.

“Every day is Groundhog Day; I, and others, came to realise that one-size housing doesn’t fit all,” Ms De Souza said.

• Ros de Souza has been one of the community members driving the tiny homes initiative.

While the steering committee has been driving the project, the City of Fremantle has helped narrow down potential sites from the original 15 to just two, although  Ms De Souza says she’s not yet at liberty to disclose their whereabouts.

She says the team behind the project come from different backgrounds but share a common vision of wanting to bring it to life in Fremantle. 

Their expertise includes experience in business, accounting, local government, arts, project management and social housing.

Under the plan, Tiny Home residents would help cover running costs through government rent assistance, along with a capped share of their own income. 

Ms De Souza said the fundraising campaign would allow locals who believe in the proposal to support it directly, while those who are interested can become involved where their talents best find expression. 

Her thinking is simple; conventional homes aren’t always the solution for people leaving the street. Pretending otherwise doesn’t actually help anyone.

Going straight from street living into a house or apartment can be too big of a jump for some people, which Ms De Sousa describes as a “recipe for failure.”

“One size housing doesn’t fit all,” she says. 

The idea is to offer a smaller and simpler ‘in-between’ option before the full-scale move into permanent housing. 

Ms de Souza said the project had not been designed to solve homelessness or replace the services already working in the area, but complement their work instead. 

“We don’t pretend to have all the answers to homelessness,” she said.

by JADE BARRY