Kim Macdonald: Most future residents in Fraser Suites will be working poor priced out of Perth rentals

I was snug in my car at some city stoplights, feeling philosophical as I watched homeless people fight the blustery wind. If you consider for a moment that we are not just a sack of cultivating wormfood, that life’s lessons have some greater meaning, then it seems these homeless people got some doozies. But what is there to learn from freezing on the streets, hungry, dirty and hating life? Of course, homeless people are responsible for their decisions and cannot entirely blame others for their circumstances. But where were the loved ones who would save them from bad choices? Where was the help as they fought drug and alcohol addiction, or the trauma, tragedy or mental health issues that drove them to it? What test is this that life has thrown at them? Then it occurred to me that perhaps it is not their test — it is our test. A test for the rest of us who usually walk away. A test for those sitting snugly in their car at the stoplights, en route to a nice warm house and loving family. I don’t know exactly how society navigates this test. I’m just a journalist. I specialise in questions, not answers. But I do believe that anyone with a safe roof over their head has a duty to help another human being who does not. Perhaps by donating to charity or charging moderate rent at an investment property. Or perhaps by accepting social and affordable housing in their neighbourhood. I do understand why people who live alongside Fraser Suites in the city are scared of what will happen to their property values and lifestyle when the State Government fills the 19-floor tower with social and affordable housing. But as they prepare to rally over the issue on Saturday, they should consider the mitigating impact from public funds propping up their property values — like the upcoming inner city school and the Royal Perth Hospital upgrade. They should also consider that about seven in 10 of those apartments will be social housing filled with the working poor — tenants like part-time security guards, shop staff, cleaners and hospital orderlies. In other words, pretty regular people who cannot keep up with skyrocketing rents. The other three in 10 apartments will be for people who do not work. People who, if not inside Fraser Suites, may well be living on the streets that surround it.