Budget windfall aims to ease Perth’s housing squeeze and use $10,000 to lure 1000 tradies west

Rita Saffioti is keeping the exact size of her $2 billion plus surplus secret for a few more hours, but will use WA’s iron ore and gold royalties windfall to fund a $434.5 million housing blitz. The West Australian can reveal that Perth’s housing shortfall is the main target of Thursday’s mid-year Budget update that will include $234m for social and affordable housing, enough to build 329 new homes and refurbish 91 others. That’s still not enough to rein in the backlog of 22,635 applicants on the public housing wait list. The rest of the funding boost will go towards water infrastructure for about 5000 new lots, and land development in Alkimos Brookdale, Byford, Casuarina, Hamilton Hill and Yanchep. A $10,000 cash incentive will be extended to lure another 1000 construction workers from interstate and overseas to WA. There’s also $14.7m to boost government housing in regional WA, after a shortage was blamed for making it harder to recruit police and teachers. A dedicated Housing Supply Office will be established in the Pilbara, where the rental vacancy rate is close to zero in mining towns such as Karratha. Only 31 rentals were listed in Karratha this week. The cheapest was a one bedroom unit for $750 per week. “Every Western Australian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home,” Treasurer Saffioti said. “Western Australia’s growth in housing completions is leading the nation, and we want to build on this momentum by reducing the barriers to housing delivery, unlocking land and growing our construction workforce.” There’s also a clear sign that the Premier intends to use his new powers under the State Development Bill quickly, after Parliament was recalled to pass it on Tuesday. Funding of $13.3m will be set aside for the Co-ordinator General to fast-track priority approvals, an extra $82.5m will be directed towards activating industrial land and there’s $27m for renewable energy assets in Aboriginal communities - but no detail about what kind of energy, or where. An extra $400m for health services, on top of the $1.5b for the Building Hospitals Fund that was announced in November, ticks off Roger Cook’s stated priorities of jobs, health and housing. “Western Australia’s economy is the strongest in the nation and its population is growing faster than anywhere else in the country, which is why my government is focused on building more homes,” he said. “We’re increasing land supply, cutting red tape and developing our housing construction workforce — and as part of the mid-year review, we’re providing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to do even more so every Western Australian can have the security a home provides. “By continuing our strong financial management, we can continue to prioritise delivering more housing and ensure our State’s economy remains the strongest in the nation.”