The Town of Port Hedland is developing a Local Housing Strategy in partnership with the Pilbara Development Commission to provide a series of actions that facilitate and promote affordable and sustainable housing in the community.
We know that housing is a handbrake on Hedland's future, and lack of housing is crippling our ability to prosper. The Town of Port Hedland is committed to helping solve the housing issue, alongside other key players.
For years, we have been advocating for changes that will stimulate the housing market, making things easier for people that need to find, and pay for a home.
We have been working hard to identify tangible actions that will stimulate more construction. With this information, we can advocate more strongly for change.
However, we need to check we're heading in the right direction, so we're asking for 10 minutes of your time to ensure we've got it right. We're calling on our community to complete a survey that will confirm the crux of the issue - beyond a simple lack of housing.
This data will inform the Local Housing Strategy that will outline a series of actions that will help facilitate and promote affordable and sustainable housing.
The Town will also be running pop-up engagement sessions that are open to everyone in the community:
What is a Local Housing Strategy?
A local housing strategy is done to support long-term strategic planning for housing mix, density, locality, character and sustainability. Many local government’s across the State have one, while others have housing plans or programs specifically to target housing needs.
In some cases, when a community needs a more hands-on approach to housing because of a recognised housing crisis, a housing strategy can identify more complex tools, mechanisms and advocacy programs. The Local Housing Strategy for the Town of Port Hedland is one such case.
The local housing strategy will coordinate the actions of the Town of Port Hedland, and help us create, advocate for and administer policies and programs affecting housing across all our decision making. Examples of possible strategy actions might include: changes to our planning system, rules about where and what we develop, and incentives we might provide.
Why are we doing a Local Housing Strategy?
The Town of Port Hedland is aware there is a housing availability and affordability crisis.
A key component of preparing the Local Housing Strategy is to investigate the data available and actions the Town may be able to take. These could be advocacy-based responses, or could be approaches that are new. Understanding this requires a lot of research.
Has the Town done any work previously on this important issue?
Yes. The Town has been looking at this crisis in detail over many years and has consistently presented the challenge to decision-makers and politicians at the State and Federal level.
In 2021, the Town convened a Housing Summit to discuss solutions for the issue with stakeholder groups including State Government, advocacy, industry groups and the building and construction industry.
The primary purpose of the Summit was to identify practical and innovative solutions, harness industry workforce growth, facilitate investment in the housing market, and deliver housing for those impacted by the West End Improvement Scheme. Stakeholders included both the regulatory and implementation sector because of their role in housing approvals, development, delivery and provision.
During the Summit, numerous ideas and initiatives were shared that could be considered to help alleviate the housing crisis. Many of these are being investigated as part of the Strategy to understand how effective they will be or what barriers are in the way that will impact their effectiveness.
Since the Summit, and as one of the recommendations of the Summit, the Town has convened the Hedland Housing Steering Committee, which is a cross-Government committee providing direct oversight of the housing crisis and any actions leading from it. The Housing Summit also specifically identified the need for this Local Housing Strategy (information about the Summit can be found here
How can I get involved?
Get involved and have your say by filling our our survey here: Local Housing Strategy Survey, , or join us for pop-up sessions to provide your feedback!
- Thursday 13 Feb, 1:00pm – 5:00pm – South Hedland Shopping Centre
- Thursday 20 Feb, 1:00pm – 5:00pm – Port Hedland Boulevard
When will the Local Housing Strategy be ready?
The draft Local Housing Strategy is expected to be ready in the first half of 2025. Drop-in sessions and a survey are key components in ensuring the Strategy provides outcomes the community wants, and we look forward to your feedback and interest in this important project.
When will new housing be available?
This is much tougher to answer. Many of the solutions to the housing crisis require collaboration and involvement of State and Federal Governments, as well as industry partners. In some cases, policies and legislation may need to be changed.
Part of the assessment of solutions will consider both quick fixes for urgently needed housing, and longer-term solutions that are likely to result in more sustained change. The longer-term solutions might require more time to achieve housing outcomes.