Housing Minister John Carey takes aim at Geraldton independent candidate Shane Van Styn over housing debate

The housing minister has rubbished claims local governments should not play a role in housing, taking aim at an independent candidate. John Carey was in Geraldton on Monday to announce 40 houses would be available in the city to combat homelessness, having chosen the city because of its work in reducing its figures. He announced 16 more tiny homes would be built in Wandina by mid-year, while 24 homes had been secured for a regional-first homelessness initiative called the supportive landlord model. A separate commitment sees the City of Greater Geraldton make moves towards providing housing in the community, with a couple of projects in the works. The Olive Street housing development is set to build seven four-bedroom houses in Mahomets Flats, with the idea to attract and house key workers in the city and rent to them before selling the houses after a period of time for profit. The State Government contributed $1.6m to the $5.99m bill for this in October. Last week, the city called for expressions of interest for proprietors to pitch their ideas for 8.8ha of unused land in Mahomets Flats. In a rare move, the city left ideas open-ended, with no specified number of dwellings or size of the homes. When asked about the land, Mr Carey congratulated the council, saying there would be opportunities for the State Government to assist down the track. “We want to see councils coming forward with new projects and new ideas to boost housing, and our commitment is now we have, on top of other funds, $25m by which the council can apply to,” he said. “We’ve still got to go through the merit process, but we’ve created another fund right now of $25m which local governments can access to build housing. “On top of that, we’ve got an infrastructure fund as well.” Former mayor Shane Van Styn, before officially nominating as an independent candidate for the seat of Geraldton, led a chorus of ratepayer concerns about the city funding responsibilities of the State Government. While Mr Carey did not specifically name anyone, he said one candidate had been saying local government should not have a role to play in housing, and labelled the idea “absolute nonsense”. “Local governments, State governments, Federal governments, are all working together to boost housing supply,” he said. “We all understand it’s a shared responsibility, and whether you’re conservative or Labor, whatever type of council, State or Federal Government, everyone agrees. “Let’s work together, so let’s not have negativity. It’s really easy to do that.” Mr Van Styn disagreed, saying governments had defined roles for a reason. “Local governments don’t have the balance sheet to deliver housing,” he said. “The minister needs to stop shirking at responsibility and assist the ratepayers. “The State Government has sold off one quarter of its government worker housing in Geraldton in the last eight years, now wants council to build properties back for them. “That’s outrageous. “We’re being gaslit by the minister when it comes to housing.”