Shires tackle rural housing crisis with $4.9m funding bid, research reveals inability to retain key workers

An alliance of Wheatbelt and Great Southern shires have lodged a multimillion-dollar application to the State Government to tackle the critical housing shortage in the districts. The 4WDL Voluntary Regional Organisation of Councils has lodged a $4.9 million application to the State Government Regional Housing Support Fund to help fast-track the construction of housing in six shires. The 4WDL region spans about 21,000sqkm and is home to about 10,000 people across six local government areas. The funding would support 20 new homes to be built in the shires of Dumbleyung, Lake Grace, Wagin, West Arthur, Williams and Woodanilling. Led by 4WLD, research revealed that regional communities were facing the inability to attract and retain essential workers due to the lack of housing. Partnering with the Wheatbelt Development Commission, JE Planning Services and Econisis, multiple modelling techniques, scenarios drawing on demographic, and housing market and survey data were analysed from 2023. They found private housing markets in 4WDL communities were experiencing market failure conditions due to slowing and declining population growth signals, poor development feasibility attributes and below replacement median house prices. The key worker housing analysis confirmed the region requires between 158 and 254 additional key worker dwellings over the next decade. The 4WDL project intends to directly address and overcome one of the districts’ biggest barriers and stop the population and services decline prevalent in small towns. 4WDL chair and Shire of West Arthur president Karen Harrington said the findings were stark and the situation had reached a tipping point. “We have jobs, we have communities ready to grow, but without housing, we simply can’t bring people in,” Cr Harrington said. “Right now, councils, schools, health services, police and local businesses are all competing for the same limited housing stock. “That’s not sustainable.” She said 4WDL’s submission builds on years of co-ordinated regional planning, including detailed housing analysis, local housing strategies and a comprehensive business case confirming a significant and growing shortfall. Despite strong demand, she said the business case confirms that housing delivery in smaller regional towns was held back by fundamental market failure, where construction costs far exceed property values. Cr Harrington said that without help from the State Government, housing in rural shire’s is off the table. “Local governments have done the groundwork — we’ve planned, we’ve prepared land and we’re ready to go,” she said. “But the reality is these homes won’t be built without State Government partnership to close that feasibility gap.” The research team’s 2024 report estimated the project would generate a total of $30.3m in economic output, along with $5.1m in incomes and contribute $9.5m to the local economy, during the construction phase. Cr Harrington said if successful, the project would use modular construction and a co-ordinated regional delivery model to accelerate build times and maximise value. She said the proposal represented a practical, ready-to-deliver solution to a well-known regional challenge. “This is exactly the type of project the regional housing support fund was designed for, it’s evidence-based, regionally co-ordinated and ready to go,” she said. “With the right support, we can unlock housing, strengthen essential services and support long-term growth across our communities.”