Shire to buy homes for staff

The Shire of Ashburton has passed a motion to purchase three properties to the value of $2.2million in Onslow, to provide relief to the housing shortage for council staff.

Currently there are 17 Shire-owned or leased properties in Onslow, for the 24 staff entitled to accommodation in the town.

There will be two more staff requiring accommodation once the Onslow Pool becomes operational.

The three additional properties purchased will house both local employees and fly, in, fly out workers.

Twelve out of about 200 staff, who work for the Shire of Ashburton, are employed on a FIFO or drive-in, drive-out basis in Onslow and Tom Price.

Shire of Ashburton president Kerry White said the accommodation crisis would be lessened if there were enough suitably qualified people living in Onslow to fill Shire positions.

“Unfortunately we don’t have enough suitably qualified people living in Onslow to fill those positions,” she said.

“Those already living locally, and who have the right qualifications, in most cases have housing attached to their existing employment.”

Ms White said cost-effective accommodation leases from Rio Tinto had helped eased the burden of housing shortages in Tom Price, where there was only 22 Shire-owned or leased properties for the 52 staff entitled to housing.

She said unfortunately similar leases had not been made available from resource companies in Onslow, where rents are approximately 3-4 times higher than Tom Price.

The Shire currently pays $14,506.46per week to lease houses in Tom Price and Onslow, which equates to $756,754.15 a year.

Ms White said the Shire would continue to invest $2m every year in new housing and construction.

“Long term, a mixture of housing types will be needed to accommodate an equally diverse workforce,” she said,

The Shire will prepare two lots on Hedditch Street and Watson Drive for development and dwelling construction in Onslow next financial year.