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Lisa Cloud admits she has been lucky to avoid Western Australia's rental crisis. But now a plan to turn her home into a hotel has left her distraught.
Key points:
- South West locals are concerned about a plan to build a hotel at a site where families and couples are living
- Resident Lisa Cloud says it was "heartbreaking" to learn she and her neighbours could be displaced
- The Fini Group wants to build a 37-bed sustainable hotel at the site on Fearn Avenue
Perth-based developer Fini Group wants to build a 37-room sustainable hotel in the Margaret River town centre at a site that is home to about half a dozen families.
Ms Cloud has lived in one of the units on Fearn Avenue for more than three years.
She was distraught to learn her flat could be turned into short-term accommodation at a time when WA was battling a shortage of rentals and high house prices.
"We're struggling through a rental crisis here and the idea is to displace so many people and families in these six units in order to build more short-term accommodation," Ms Cloud said.
"It's pretty heartbreaking."
The proposal has been put to the community for consultation and a spokesperson for the Fini family said they would be communicating with tenants.
"Tenants will be kept informed throughout the planning and approvals process," the spokesperson said.
"With the proposal now submitted to the Shire of Margaret River for development approval, it is anticipated that construction could start in approximately 12 months during the second half of 2024."
In the meantime, Ms Cloud said residents had been offered short-term leases.
"Our current lease ends at the end of August. We do have the option to extend until January [and] possible three-month extensions after that," she said.
"It's all very much up in the air and not a very stable way to live."
'Not the way forward'
Each week, housing advocacy group Just Home Margaret River sees residents in the South West tourist town "at their wit's end" — even living in tents or staying in caravan parks.
Program manager Alex Hughes said short-stay accommodation was not the answer.
"I don't think it's the way forward. We need to create more stable options for people," he said.
Mr Hughes said, in the past two years, the number of rough sleepers in Margaret River had doubled to about 200 people.
He urged decision-makers not to approve the development.
"We are a tourist town, we have a lot of casualised workforce and low-income earners who keep the town running — the wineries need people, the restaurants need people, the hotels need people," Mr Hughes said.
"If we don't have affordable, low-cost, or social housing for those people to live in, that whole thing falls over.
"We really need to think about what we are granting in terms of planning."
Still in early stages
The plan is yet to be considered by the council or the state's Joint Development Assessment Panel and is out for public comment until early July.
A Fini family spokesperson said the development would have a strong focus on sustainability.
"The hotel is intended to act as a launch pad for local tourism, encouraging guests and travellers to spend the day exploring the region," the spokesperson said.
"The proposal will create a new benchmark in sustainability as a carbon net-positive development.
"Visitors likely to stay at the hotel could include international travellers on small group bespoke tours, couples on staycations from Perth, wine lovers visiting the region from the eastern states, individuals or small groups undertaking surfing or mountain biking experiences, and business people visiting clients in the wine and tourism sectors."
It is not the first Fini development to spark community concern in the South West, with a similar proposal for Smiths Beach in nearby Yallingup being hotly contested by local residents.
The responsible local government, the City of Busselton, had raised concerns about bushfire management, waste and water connections, and environmental impact.
WA's Environmental Protection Authority is still assessing the proposal.