State Government boosts its modular home allocation to Geraldton to seven

A batch of seven easily-constructed modular homes will be set up in Geraldton by early next year for people languishing on the public housing waitlist.

Housing Minister John Carey confirmed to the Guardian last week that the initial promise of five modular homes for Geraldton had swelled to seven — six in Wandina and one in Beachlands — and he didn’t rule out a bigger allocation down the track.

The new homes will be installed as part of the State Government’s Modular Build Program, under which 200 social homes will be delivered to WA communities in the next two years, many of them in the regions.

“The program is a rolling initiative of the McGowan Government and depending on land availability, there may be further additions in Geraldton,” Mr Carey said.

“The seven homes are expected to be delivered early in 2023, with 54 social modular homes now contracted through the modular pilot panel.”

The seven homes will only make a tiny dent in the region’s stretched public housing wait list. At the end of March this year, 1065 people in the Mid West and Gascoyne were on the public housing waitlist, with 185 of those given priority status. Locals on the list wait up to 94 weeks to get public housing.

But Mr Carey said boosting social housing stocks was a priority, with the Government making a record investment of $875 million, but there were significant challenges for housing construction in the current heated market.

“Which is why I have been reforming our housing delivery and investing in a range of measures, including modular, to get homes built as quickly as possible,” he said.

The State Government has already invested $9m in Geraldton from the Regional Renewal Program and $9.3m was allocated in January this year under the SHERP program to undertake refurbishment local projects to provide safe and secure housing for vulnerable people.

Instead of traditional home construction methods, modular builds involve high-quality housing being built off-site in a factory before being transported to their location.