Even though Leederville is cool and groovy everybody should still be able to live there.
There are lots of different solutions that need to be explored in Leederville.
We need to build places that fit the demographic of people who want to live there, not just what the top end of the market can pay for.
We need secure, financially stabilised housing for students, creatives, key workers, and the disadvantaged and have this embodied into planning provisions.
Alternatives are also available in the types of buildings such as greater use of shared facilities such as laundries, replacing parking with shared vehicles, smaller houses and apartments in exchange for better social and community spaces.
Everybody has a role to play. Alternative investment models such as cooperatives, not-for-profit investment, impact investment, housing associations, can also fill the gap the the current market is missing.
It’s a sad situation but gentrification kills the funky parts of a city.
People with lots of resources want to buy into the cool and groovy places. But their purchasing power pushes up the rent and house prices.
Without adequate and affordable housing; students, creatives, key workers, the aged and disadvantaged people are forced out. But these are the very people that make a city feel human, creative and amazing.
Once these people leave, the cities loose their vibrance and diversity, innovation declines and the local economy stalls.
While the housing and development industry sees ever increasing housing prices and attraction of high net worth individuals as a success story, in reality it is not a good long term outcome.
Leederville needs innovative and enlightened developers to develop better offerings than what is currently occuring.