Access to, and the cost of housing, is a critical issue facing residents in the City of Karratha and a significant factor in achieving the City’s vision of becoming Australia’s most liveable regional city.
The City has adopted a multi-pronged approach in support of a range of house and land initiatives, including advocating for the release of affordable residential land to the market and encouraging new residential development. For the City to attract and retain a skilled workforce for the implementation of services provided to the community, it is imperative that suitable affordable housing is an urgent priority.
In support of this strategy, the City has been progressing a series of initiatives to provide more houses and land stock to market directly. The City has also recently acquired or is investigating the acquisition of vacant land with plans to develop housing projects further and complement the already underway initiatives.
The City is actively facilitating and encouraging further development through the following summary of the current housing initiatives that have been progressed:
• Hancock Way Subdivision, Bulgarra – The subdivision includes 20 lots that provide a variety of sizes focused on wide street frontages and are currently available for purchase. As part of this process the City has retained six lots and appointed a design consultant to prepare exemplar designs for six large, medium and small-sized, single-storey dwellings. The construction on Lots 1 and 3 Hancock Way, and Lots 9, 11, 16 and 17 Dawn Lane, Bulgarra is anticipated to commence in May 2024 with completion in September 2025.
• Six Houses, Wickham – Ongoing discussions with Rio Tinto to acquire six residential lots and consider design and construction of four houses for Western Australia Country Health Service (WACHS) in support of state government workers being based in the town.
• Two Houses, Jingarri Nickol – Works commenced by contractor, Colin Wilkinson Developments Pty Ltd for the construction of two single-storey brick veneer houses on City owned residential land. Completed in December 2023.
• Nine Houses (GBSC/ Yurra), Nickol – Nine group dwellings realised through a development agreement with the local contractor, GBSC Yurra and completed in August 2022.
• Shakespeare Street Units Redevelopment, Bulgarra – Awarded to the local contractor, Trasan Contracting, for the redevelopment of the first 30 strata units and allocated as part of the City’s affordable housing strategy. Completed in February 2023.
