South Perth property owners could soon be encouraged to transform their vacant homes into rental accommodation after it was revealed more than 16 per cent of the inner-city suburb’s homes were unoccupied.
South Perth council has called on officers to prepare a report outlining ways to incentives homeowners to make their vacant homes — which may be owned by FIFO workers or used as investment properties — available for long term rent.
The report will also include strategies on how to incentivise landowners to develop their block of land.
The motion, which was put forward by Cr Mary Choy, was carried unanimously at last Tuesday night’s council meeting.
A report will be presented to the council by June.
Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed more than 1100 — or 16.4 per cent — of private dwellings in South Perth remained unoccupied.
“Long-term vacant blocks for land banking purposes and empty homes … are generally not great for a vibrant and thriving community,” Cr Choy said at last Tuesday night’s meeting.
“Walking down a street on any given day past vacant blocks overgrown with weeds or rubbish continually dumped or past houses on an evening when you know no lights are going to be on … may not provide that sense of a connected, safe or secure community for other residents who may live nearby.
“It is the view this is the right time to also consider ways of reducing land banking and long-term unoccupancy rates throughout the district, with the aim of not just addressing housing supply but also to maintain the amenity local residents expect and further promote connected communities with local visual amenity, vibrancy and security of our streets.”
Cr Andre Brender-A-Brandis said the housing crisis was a national issue.
“Whilst there might be greater impacts coming from the State Government, we do need to actually commence this process where we actually start looking at our own statistics and our own high vacancy rates,” he said.
“If you have a higher occupancy rating, you actually have a greater sense of community and with that comes benefits, including passive surveillance and security and wellbeing for members of the community.
“We do need to consider how we respond to a larger crisis, how we respond to try to maximise utilisation and also consequentially driving down the rental costs and increasing the occupancy rates.”