Government looks at prefabricated homes to help fix growing problem
LONDON: Prefabricated and modular homes are being investigated as part of the solution to WA’s ballooning public housing waiting list.
Latest Department of Communities figures show there were 16,949 households waiting for a home as of May 31, of whom 3220 were on the priority list, compared to 14,044 in January last year.
The McGowan Government inherited a waitlist with 17,732 applicants upon taking office in 2017, but almost all of the inroads achieved over the first three years in power have been lost in the space of 17 months.
The average time for public housing has also surged to 100 weeks — nearly two years — for general applicants and 43 weeks for those categorised as a priority.
Communities service director Sharyn Keating said most applicants had a roof over their head while they waited to be housed, but many may be paying more to access their home than they could afford — forcing them to forgo food, clothing or education.
After Labor’s re-election in March, Perth MP John Carey took over the housing portfolio from dumped Cabinet minister Peter Tinley. Since then, almost 600 more households have joined the queue for accommodation.
Mr Carey said the surging demand was a result of COVID-19, with a significant increase in the number of people returning to WA putting pressure on housing supply.
Over the past year there had been 24,000 building approvals, which he predicted would stabilise the rental market over the next 18 months.
In the shorter-term, Mr Carey said he was looking at ways to “accelerate” the delivery of new public housing stock — which is currently at about 35,000 — but acknowledged the strength of the construction industry was a challenge.
The Government’s policy, released last year, aims for a 6 per cent net increase in social housing by 2030. As of March 31, Communities had 235 social houses under construction and 50 social houses under contract for construction.
This week, Mr Carey visited a builder specialising in prefabricated steel frames. A social housing development in Highgate will also use timber frames on the upper levels. The idea being that modular homes could speed up construction times.
“They are the kinds of things that I’m looking at … because at the moment the Government is facing the exact same challenge that the private market is facing and that is huge demand for new houses, incredible number of building approvals and that is putting pressure on getting labour and skills,” he said.
Shelter WA chief executive Michelle Mackenzie said Mr Carey had demonstrated a commitment to fixing the problem, but the Budget surplus provided a real opportunity to address the issue head-on. The advocacy group wants 2500 more social housing a year for the next four years.
“The increase in the waitlist is distressing for the community and our service providers, who are seeing record numbers of people needing assistance, with no homes available to refer them on to. This is impacting across the entire community,” she said.
“If we used vacant government-owned land and buildings, fast and innovative building methods like prefabricated and modular housing, and involved the community housing sector we could solve this problem in this term of government.”
