An ambitious plan to build 40 new homes in four months has been unveiled to help address the accommodation crisis in some of Queensland's most rural and remote towns.
Key points:
- Several members of Regional Development Australia Plans have signed up for the pilot program
- The proposed houses feature three bedrooms and a verandah, along with heating and cooling facilities
- Regional councils hope the initiave will help them attract critical staff
Regional Development Australia's initiative will see modular homes built in Townsville before being transported on the back of a truck to locations like Charters Towers and Richmond.
"It's really grassroots housing solution," RDA Townsville and North West Queensland chief executive Wayde Chiesa said.
"This could be a game changer for some of those smaller regional councils."
Several of the organisation's 15 member councils have already signed up for the pilot program.
It'll be presented as an option to help ease the housing crisis during this month's Queensland Housing Summit.
"A council might only need three or four houses," Mr Chiesa said.
"We might coordinate the purchase of up to 40, and there is a group-buying discount, so they are able to get these to site more cost-effectively than what they would ordinarily do working on their own."
But the program still needs financial backing from all levels of government.
"We're in discussions now with the state government," he said.
"And we're about to open discussions with the federal government, and the cost will depend on the contribution between the three levels of government."
What will they look like
The proposed homes feature three bedrooms and a verandah, along with heating and cooling facilities.
Ausco Modular specialises in the construction of these buildings.
The company's North Queensland regional manager Brad Hunt said they were between 12 to 14 metres in length and up to 3.4 metres wide.
"So, they can be transported on the back of a semi-trailer and delivered direct to site," he said.
"Then there's a process of connecting the buildings and making them seamless from an aesthetic point of view."
Mr Hunt said weather delays were not a factor because they were built in a factory, and the design had long been embraced overseas.
"I think 80 per cent of Sweden's population live in some sort of modular housing and in Singapore as well," he said.
"Even Japan, up to 15 per cent of their population are living in high-spec modular homes."
Who will live in them
The houses will be targeted for use by council staff in a bid to attract more workers to the regions.
"We know in these regional and remote communities councils often run vital community services like the airport and childcare," Mr Chiesa said.
Richmond Mayor John Wharton said issues with attracting trades and accessing supplies meant housing had remained stagnant in his community.
"There's been no one building new houses for a long time," he said.
"In regional areas, we really do need to crank it up a little bit.
"Two houses went up for sale in Julia Creek three to four weeks ago, and one of them went to contract the same day the sign went up."
Mr Wharton would like to see three houses come to his community, with 50 per cent of the cost subsidised by state and federal governments.
"That will go a long way towards bringing people to work in, live in our area and moving people away from the east coast," he said.
"I mean, the east coast is just chock-a-block.
"We want to see people decentralise a little bit and come and work in these communities."
While Regional Development Australia admits it is no silver bullet, it hopes the initiative will go some way to ensuring regional and remote communities continue to grow.
"We'll be putting our best foot forward to see that we can make this a reality," Mr Chiesa said.
"Because we believe it's a great opportunity and solves a problem for the council housing that can attract key staff for these regions, which are in critical need."