MINISTER CLAIMS GOVERNMENT DOING ALL IT CAN ON VACANT SOCIAL HOUSING

BY CASSIE ARIUU AND GERARD MAZZA

Housing Minister John Carey with Yindjibarndi ranger Margaret Ranger at the construction site for a housing development being constructed in Roebourne/Ieramagadu. Credit: Sudarshan Paudel.

Western Australia’s Housing Minister says the government is doing everything it can to repair vacant public housing in the Pilbara town of Ieramagadu/Roebourne.

Figures revealed in Parliament earlier this year showed that around 12 per cent of social housing in the Pilbara region was unoccupied as of the end of last year.

Housing Minister John Carey told Ngaarda Media the government had spent hundreds of millions on maintenance and refurbishments.

“Each house depends on how viable it is, so, what’s the level of investment needed to get that house back into the market?” he said. “It can be hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it can be constrained by the availability of trades.”

“I’m aware that, across Western Australia, at any one time, we’ll have vacancies in the system. We have around 36,000 public houses in the system.

“We do everything we can.”

Well-known housing advocate Dr Betsy Buchanan said the government could do more to address high vacancy rates and improve housing supply in Roebourne and the Pilbara.

“The welfare of First Nations children should be an absolute first priority,” she said. “There shouldn’t be anything that’s too hard, and housing is absolutely the core of that.

“I do believe that they should try use First Nations people to repair those houses. They could work with local land councils, and also prisoners who’ve been trained. I think that would be an absolutely wonderful project, if local government and the state government, Paul Papalia, John Carey, and the local shire, local land councils, could all work together to try and repair those houses using First Nations people.”

Minister Carey was in the Pilbara yesterday to visit the Roebourne construction site for a $10.5 million dollar accommodation facility for low-income trainees and apprentices.

The project is funded through the state government’s $200 million North West Aboriginal Housing Fund and is being built by the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation at the Ganalili Centre precinct.

“This is going to be a significant gain for the Roebourne community, to provide this both training facility, but also importantly, to create new accommodation for apprentices and trainees who will have stable, secure housing,” Minister Carey said.

A housing facility for trainees and apprentices is under construction in Ieramagadu. Credit: Sudarshan Paudel,