From Trundle to Tambar Springs, and Broken Hill to Bourke, the NSW Government has provided almost 300 quality new homes in regional communities that need them most, helping ease staffing pressures and support essential services across NSW.
Housing is the number one issue for the people of New South Wales, which is why the Minns Labor Government is building more homes to buy and rent right across the state.
The $165 million Key Worker Housing (KWH) Program is delivering vital accommodation for teachers and police officers in more than 90 regional towns, including some of the most remote areas in the state.
Working in partnership with the Department of Education and the NSW Police Force, Homes NSW is delivering 221 teacher homes and 69 police homes, with more than 80 per cent of the homes already complete.
By partnering with local builders and suppliers, the program has injected more than $55 million into regional economies across the state.
Innovation has also been at the forefront of the program, with Homes NSW using Modern Methods of Construction to build 58 of the 290 homes, helping deliver teacher and police housing faster and more efficiently in some of NSW’s most remote and hard-to-reach communities.
With the final projects in the program now underway, Homes NSW has begun consulting with key agencies and Government departments to identify future housing needs and ensure communities continue to have the housing infrastructure needed to attract and retain essential workers.
This work complements the Minns Labor Government’s historic $6.6 billion Building Homes for NSW program, which is delivering 8,400 new public homes, 21,000 affordable and market homes, and upgrades to 30,000 existing social housing properties across NSW.
Deputy Premier of New South Wales and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said:
“Ensuring public schools in regional communities have the teachers they need is essential to providing students with the high-quality education they deserve, right where they live.
“Supporting teachers in regional NSW wasn’t a priority for the Nationals and Liberals, whose hands-off approach to regional education left communities playing catch-up.
“The Minns Labor Government is reversing that approach and building modern, affordable homes to help reduce teacher vacancies across regional NSW.”
Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley said:
“NSW Police officers do an incredible job serving regional communities, and they deserve access to safe, secure and affordable housing wherever they are posted.
“When we invest in housing for police officers, we’re investing in safer communities. This program is helping regional towns attract and keep the officers who work every day to keep local people safe.
“This is just one of the ways we are helping to rebuild the NSW Police across regional areas; our investments in housing, coupled with our ‘Be a cop in your hometown’ initiative are helping to make Regional NSW safer by ensuring more boots on the ground.”
Minister for Regional NSW Tara Moriarty said:
“This program not only houses essential police and teachers but injects millions of dollars into regional economies with funds flowing to local builders and suppliers.
“The use of new innovative methods to get the housing delivered quicker and more cost effectively demonstrates our regional businesses and workers are highly skilled and driving solutions for our statewide housing issues.”
Minister for Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson said:
“Regional communities are struggling to attract and retain essential workers, and housing is a big part of the challenge. You can’t recruit police officers and teachers if there’s nowhere for them to live. That’s why this program is so important.
“To deliver 290 homes teacher and police homes across regional NSW in just over four years, including in some of the most remote parts of the state, is a significant achievement and shows what’s possible when government invests in the infrastructure communities need.
“With the final projects now locked in, we’re working with agencies across government to make sure we continue to deliver much-needed housing in regional communities that attracts and keeps these key workers they heavily rely on.”
