Under the Housing Authority's 'one in every nine' policy, set in the 1990s, the state government aims to eliminate public housing clusters built in Perth's older suburbs in the 1950s to 1980s and evenly disperse them across the metropolitan area to create socially diverse communities. According to the Housing Presence report, which provided indicative statistics only, public housing stock varied between councils from zero to nearly 12 per cent. The City of Fremantle is the only council still exceeding the 'one in nine' - or 11 per cent approach - with 11.79% of its properties listed as public housing. The City of Belmont (7.92%), and Town of Bassendean (7.51%) had the second and third highest rates, while councils in the western suburbs and urban fringes had as little as zero per cent.

Major investment by the state government in recent decades has seen areas with high amounts of public housing - such as Lockridge, Balga, Girrawheen, Langford and Willagee - undergo redevelopment to reduce the rate of public housing. The overhaul followed media criticism the then-Housing Commission had created ‘ghettos’ and ‘one-class estates’ which segregated the poor when it oversaw a post-World War ll housing boom and built entire suburbs purely for public housing. Department of Communities assistant director general Greg Cash said housing and planning policies during the 1950s to 1980s, had left the Housing Authority with a legacy of high concentrations of public housing in certain suburbs. "It also resulted in the construction of apartment blocks and even suburbs consisting entirely of public housing," he said.

"The department is invested heavily in breaking down these legacy concentrations, however, this process is time and resource-intensive." Mr Cash said Brownlie Towers in Bentley and Stirling Towers in Highgate were examples of historical public housing complexes where the Housing Authority had relocated tenants to surrounding areas as part of a process to de-concentrating public housing. Brownlie Towers, which once contained 300 public housing units, will be demolished and a replaced with a new housing precinct to include 1500 dwellings, a community facility, parks and a village centre. Brownlie Towers was built in the 1970s to house 300 public housing apartments Credit:Housing Authority An artist's impression of the community precinct that will replace Brownlie Towers Credit:Housing Authority

Loading City of Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said the public housing within the council's boundaries was most concentrated in Beaconsfield, Hilton, White Gum Valley and North Fremantle. "[The relatively high] percentage has been going down as the Housing Authority works towards achieving its ‘1 in 9’ target, and we expect it to continue to reduce over time," he said. "The City of Fremantle supports having a broad and affordable mix of housing types - suitable for down-sizers, seniors, first- home buyers, public housing tenants and families - as this adds to the richness and diversity of our community. "However, it’s important for the state and federal governments to provide appropriate services to support everyone in the community."

Mr Pettitt said the council had several urban regeneration projects underway including the Heart of Beaconfield project, which aims to redevelop properties in the Davis Park area. "This urban regeneration project will see a large number of old, run-down, lower-density social housing properties demolished and replaced with a mix of higher-density new homes," he said. "It’s anticipated the number of social housing tenants in the area will remain about the same, but the percentage will be reduced because there will be increased density and more homes, housing a diverse range of people on a diverse range of incomes.” Despite a public housing wait-list of 9700, there is little public housing being built by the Housing Authority in Perth's newer suburbs. It is instead focused on creating joint partnerships with developers to build socially diverse projects like Heart of Beaconsfield, to provide public housing options, as well as affordable shared ownership and private housing opportunities.