A lack of suitable housing for single workers in Dubbo has led a major employer to purchase its own.
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In the latest twist in the housing crisis, single people moving to Dubbo for temporary or full-time work are having trouble finding rental accommodation at an affordable price.
Perusing real estate portal View.com.au (published by ACM, the owner of this masthead), the Daily Liberal found only four houses with one bedroom available for rent in Dubbo.
The median price for one-bedroom rentals in the city is $250, and $340 for two-bedroom offerings, according to Housing NSW.
This means people on the minimum wage - $882.80 per week according to the Fair Work Ombudsman - who can't secure one of the very few one-bedroom houses or units available, might be plunged into rental stress.
Rental stress is when someone is spending over 30 per cent of their wage on rent.
If someone on the minimum wage is forced to lease a two-bedroom unit, they are spending, on average, 38 per cent of their wage, placing them in rental stress.
Fiona Gibbs of the Real Estate Institute of NSW - Orana Division, and director and property manager at Bob Berry Real Estate in Dubbo, confirmed there weren't enough housing options for people who live on their own in Dubbo.
"There's not really sufficient affordable housing ... there's just not the breakup in those smaller type of properties people need," Ms Gibbs told the Daily Liberal.
In Ms Gibbs's experience at the real estate, larger homes priced-out people on lower incomes, including pensioners and apprentices.
"Not everyone needs a four bedroom home. If you're a single pensioner, you've got pretty limited options and you've got limited needs," she said.
Ms Gibbs said she'd like to see more smaller housing options built in Dubbo, but that would require rezoning of land and an investor prepared to invest in the project.
Roger Fletcher, managing director of Fletcher International Exports, employs numerous single people and travellers who come to Dubbo for work.
He decided to take the issue into his own hands and provide accommodation for them.
"We provide accommodation wherever we can pick it up. There's been a pub, a motel, units and wherever we can buy sensible accommodation for our people," Mr Fletcher told the Daily Liberal.
He said it was "an ongoing challenge" for the company, but it was the nature of employing short-term workers.
"Speaking for single people, a lot of people want to see the world and travel and do jobs and we work to get that done," Mr Fletcher said.
"It's ongoing, we still have work to do, and we've come a long way in the last couple of years."
Mr Fletcher said he didn't think it was anyone else's responsibility to provide housing for his workers.
"We can't expect everyone else to provide for us in a climate like this. We take the challenge and we build accommodation," he said.
"I wouldn't expect people to build accommodation for us. We haven't seen that happening."
Mr Fletcher said to his mind, when he saw a problem, he did whatever he could to take the challenge on.
"We know it's not going to be a short-term challenge, and so we keep endeavouring to approve our accommodation for our people," he said.
A report prepared by Dubbo Regional Council in collaboration with the State Government identified an influx of short-term workers would need accommodation in Dubbo over the next five years.
The identified the following expected peak staffing numbers:
- Inland Rail at Narromine: 250
- Regional Rail Maintenance Facility: 120
- Central West and Orana Region Regional Energy Zone: 3,900
- Australian Strategic Materials project at Toongi: 1,000
- Fletcher International Exports processing plant: 400
- Transport for NSW/other NSW Government Departments: 500
The council has engaged consultants to undertake an analysis of short-term worker accommodation requirements and to identify policy and other initiatives they can undertake to ensure the region can both capitalise from investment and ensure housing availability is not further unreasonably impacted.