The Nationals WA have condemned the Cook Labor Government for presiding over the collapse of the Government Regional Officer Housing (GROH) program, warning that essential public sector workers across regional WA are being left without safe, reliable accommodation.
Leader of The Nationals WA and Member for Mid-West said the program — once intended to provide secure housing for teachers, health workers and police — has deteriorated to a point of crisis.
“The GROH program is meant to support the workforce that regional WA relies upon. Instead, it is costing taxpayers millions while failing the very people it is supposed to house,” Mr Love said.
Parliamentary questions revealed that as of September 30, 612 GROH properties were sitting empty — around 11 per cent of all stock — while essential workers were being forced into pubs, motels and caravan parks due to the shortage of adequate Government housing.
“Homes are empty or uninhabitable, while frontline workers are being shuffled between temporary accommodations or priced out of their own communities. It is unacceptable, and it is driving workers away from the regions.”
Mr Love said communities in the Murchison region were facing some of the most shocking examples of Government neglect.
“One school teacher has been forced to live in appalling conditions, including a house riddled with black mould, a hole in the roof letting birds inside for more than six months, and rainwater dripping directly onto the stovetop,” he said.
“Despite lodging maintenance requests since May, not one issue had been fixed by October. He eventually had to move out for his own safety.”
Before relocating to the Murchison, the same teacher was based in Geraldton, where the State placed him in 18 different Airbnbs in just nine months, on multiple occasions having to leave school mid-day to check out of one property and into another.
“This is not just inconvenient, it is dangerous, and it is completely avoidable,” Mr Love said.
Mr Love said the breakdown of the GROH system was also putting immense pressure on communities like Shark Bay.
“With limited land supply and a population that grows five-fold in peak seasons, housing is already tight,” he said.
“Because GROH homes are not functioning, the State is leasing private properties at inflated prices, forcing rents to skyrocket and in some cases I have seen prices double.”
The situation has deteriorated so badly that the tiny Shire of Shark Bay, with its limited rate base, has taken the extraordinary step of building four GROH-standard homes itself just to ease housing pressure.
“It is outrageous that a small regional shire is being forced to pick up the bill because the State Government has walked away from its responsibilities,” Mr Love said.
Shadow Minister for Local Government and Member for Geraldton Kirrilee Warr MLA said similar failures were evident in Geraldton, where local government had also been forced to step in.
“For the City of Greater Geraldton to fund and build seven houses from their own budget to ease the housing shortage shows just how wrong the State Government’s priorities are,” Ms Warr said.
“Local governments keep picking up the slack because this Labor Government has dropped the ball.”
Ms Warr said the State had failed to support Geraldton ratepayers, with the city spending more than $4 million on the project while the Government contributed only $1.6 million – a contribution reallocated from other regional funding.
“This is nothing more than cost-shifting. It’s clear this Government does not have the regions’ best interests at heart when it comes to providing housing.”