State Government denies Geraldton Health Campus staff will put strain on local rental market

With the emergency department of the redeveloped Geraldton Health Campus opening next month, the spotlight has turned to Geraldton’s ability to house workers.

Housing Minister John Carey denied hospital staff would put additional strain on Geraldton’s rental market.

“Our Government is doing everything it can to accelerate the delivery of housing across WA through a number of different means, including working with the local government here to enable more workers’ accommodation,” he said at the practical completion of the hospital last week.

In the most recent State Budget, the Government allocated funds to rent 78 properties in Geraldton for hospital staff.

The redevelopment needs 160 staff to operate, about half of which have been recruited already, according to Health Minister Meredith Hammat.

That leaves 80 positions to be filled, possibly by workers moving to the area.

Ms Hammat said there were a range of roles yet to be filled and encouraged locals to apply for positions.

“We’ve had a really good response already to the recruitment that we’ve been doing. We are seeing a strong interest from people who want to come and work in our health services in Western Australia,” she said.

“We will always need to look for staff with particular specialist skills and look for those opportunities to make sure that they are encouraged to come and live and work in regional areas.”

Though Ms Hammat spoke of the need to recruit people to regional WA, she was still hopeful locals would find jobs at the hospital that suited them.

A lack of rental homes in town has been a stress to residents, even those with steady employment.

Mission Australia area manager Fleur Harding said she had seen an increase in those facing homelessness and financial hardship in Geraldton during the “financial crisis” of the past few years.

“We’ve even got two-income families sometimes come through needing support,” she said.

“The cost of rentals has gone through the roof, and they’re very scarce. There’s always competition for any kind of rentals that are coming up.

“And the Department of Housing has a long waitlist.”

She said that having more social and affordable housing and crisis services would be a “big goal” for Geraldton.

“We’d like to see far more housing available that isn’t pricing people out of the market.”

A State Government spokesperson said they were “prioritising the delivery of 37 homes for regional frontline workers in Geraldton”.

“It should be noted that existing Geraldton Hospital employees and local health workforce will be utilised to staff the newly developed campus,” the spokesperson said.