The first stage of a $9 million private worker accommodation development, designed to make it easier to attract essential workers to western Victoria, has reached completion.
The Horsham Medical Worker Accommodation Project, led by Elmstone Property Group, is set to provide 36 self-contained apartments for healthcare professionals and other essential workers.
The project was designed to attract and retain doctors, nurses and other critical workers by removing the biggest barrier to relocation to the Wimmera region — housing availability.
Grampians Health CEO Dale Fraser said it had been a challenge to provide safe and appropriate housing for staff.
“We’re in a competitive space for workforce,” Mr Fraser said.
“So, providing good facilities is one way in which we can ensure we get good talent coming to Horsham to work in our location.”
He said the worker accommodation allowed them to return housing to the market.
“We’re all aware that there are high demands on accommodation in Horsham, but those demands will become even more urgent into the future as some of the bigger projects on mining and other developments get steam,” Mr Fraser said.
A further 18 apartments and 26 homes are now planned on an adjacent site, bringing the total number of worker homes to 80.
An influx of large-scale projects is expected to put pressure on an already stressful rental market. (ABC News: Ed Gannon)
The project’s expansion will support workers tied to major regional investments, including critical minerals projects and new manufacturing facilities such as the $300m Farm Frites plant.
Elmstone Property Group director Stuart Benjamin said the project hoped to ease worker shortages stemming from a lack of housing and ease pressure on the local rental markets.
“The [new projects] have very high employee numbers, and the biggest restrictions are not only finding the workers but also finding somewhere for them to live,” he said.
Mr Benjamin said Horsham has one of the highest numbers of infrastructure projects of any region across Victoria, and one of the worst vacancy rates, making it desirable for many investors.
Data from Realestate.com.au showed Horsham’s rental vacancy rate sat at 1.03 per cent.
The median weekly rent was $420, with the median rental yield 5.1 per cent.
More broadly across the Wimmera, the rental vacancy rate was 1.98 per cent, with the median weekly rent being $460.
Data from April also showed Warracknabeal, just north of Horsham, had the highest rental yield in regional Victoria at 8.3 per cent, followed by Nhill at 6.8 per cent.
Horsham is the capital of Victoria’s wheatbelt region, the Wimmera, four hours west of Melbourne. (Supplied: Chris O’Connell)
“Every [rental] property [is] only vacant for a few days, if at all,” Mr Benjamin said.
“Most properties when they become vacant, the tenant moves out on the Saturday morning, and the new tenant moves in on the same day.
“So, there’s just incredible stress in the rental market, and it just has not been able to keep up.”
Harcourts Horsham director Mark Clyne said any houses for sale were being bought by investors coming from Sydney or Melbourne.
“If you look at the state of Victoria as a whole, Horsham is a bright spot in the whole state at the moment,” Mr Clyne said.
“They don’t believe any other part of Victoria has as many projects or variety of projects planned for the next five years.
“There’s certainly a lot of people watching Horsham; we’ve had a lot of rental prices go up.”
He said normally the region builds 100 houses a year, but expects to build an additional 200 a year due to the projects.
The proposed site for the Warracknabeal Energy Park, which is set to bring an influx of workers to the region. (Supplied: WestWind Energy)
Further investment required
Mr Benjamin said there had been a lack of supply of units and smaller houses over the past couple of decades.
“The impact that has on the housing stock is you end up with people living in larger houses than they need to, and vacant bedrooms,” he said.
Mr Benjamin said the first 36 houses of the project would free up more than 100 bedrooms in the community.
“All of those people get to come out of two, three, four-bedroom houses and occupy something that’s fit for purpose,” he said.
“They only want one bedroom, but if the only thing that they can rent in the community is a three-bedroom, that’s what they take up, and that means a young family doesn’t have access to it.”
Mr Benjamin said it costs 25 per cent more to build the same house in Horsham as it would in Ballarat, because of the ground conditions, which he said turn a lot of people away from building.
Grampians Health is hoping the new worker accommodation project can help ease its footprint on the rental market. (ABC Wimmera:Gillian Aeria)
Horsham Mayor Brian Klowss said there was $27.2 billion in investment going into the region, which would continue to create housing pressure.
“While that’s a huge opportunity for our region, it will also drive significant demand for both short and long-term housing, putting real pressure on rental affordability and availability if we don’t plan carefully,” he said.
“If the demand increases rapidly due to an influx of projects and workers, it is a challenge to get houses built quickly.
“We need assistance from government to provide a key worker plan and increased access to builders and trades if and when this situation arises.”
