The Department of Housing and Works is continuing its public housing push into the city with plans for a new $15 million apartment project at 146 Fitzgerald Street.
The Department of Housing and Works is continuing its public housing push into the city with plans for a new $15 million apartment project at 146 Fitzgerald Street.
Under a draft proposal, 19 one-bedroom apartments and 24 two-bedroom apartments will be built on the site, above two commercial units.
No date has been set for work to begin on the 2,350 square metre lot, which the department bought for $2.85 million.
Housing and Works Minister Michelle Roberts said the land’s proximity to the Perth CBD and extensive public transport networks would offer prospective tenants excellent access to employment, healthcare, recreational and educational facilities.
“If low-income families and unemployed people are to improve their current situation, they must be able to access the increased services and facilities found in the inner city areas, rather than being isolated in outer suburbs,” Mrs Roberts said.
As housing prices increased in inner-city suburbs, she said there was a real need to secure public housing accommodation in these areas.
The government is planning to spend about $83 million on land acquisitions in the current financial year and intends to build more than 860 new dwellings for public housing.
Its commitment to this latest development follows the opening of a $5.1 million public housing project at 1 Price Street, in the Centro precinct of Subiaco in November 2006.
The mixed-use complex featured four two-bedroom townhouses, six one-bedroom and nine two-bedroom apartments, positioned along three street fonts.
Four commercial units are also incorporated into the complex to maintain continuity with the Hay Street commercial strip.
Another public housing project was also completed late last year in East Perth, on the former Nevarda shirt factory site on Goderich Street.
In all, $14.9 million was spent on 41 aged person’s units, 26 two-bedroom units and two one-bedroom units.
Other city projects still on the drawing board include 72 apartments on Lot 52, Pier Street, 86 apartments and three commercial units on the corner of Pier and Aberdeen Streets as well as 71 apartments and a café on Lot 303 Campbell Street, West Perth.
The City of Perth is also understood to be looking at facilitating more modern public housing in the city, through a potential land exchange with the Housing and Works Department.
Council believes the 5,285 sq m site occupied by the Graham Flats at 1,217 Hay Street would be better suited to a new town square for West Perth and, among a number of options, is considering swapping its freehold land at 160 Hay Street in East Perth with the department.
