Council’s new home plan bagged

The head of a voluntary group representing ratepayers across Karratha has slammed a local council plan to keep a cap on housing and rental prices in the Pilbara town. City of Karratha councillors last week awarded a project manager tender to a possible scheme that would see a number of new homes built in the area to attract more investment in the town. The tender was given to APP Corporation Pty Limited to act as the project manager for the scheme, worth about $35 million to boost Karratha’s housing stocks over the next three years. The contract came after a report by the City in November found there were about 8500 residential homes in Karratha with fewer than 1.5 per cent of those available to rent or buy. The Pilbara News reported in November that the lack of available homes had also caused rents to increase dramatically, with some areas, such as Millars Well, seeing a 27 per cent price rise. Karratha Ratepayers Association president Dani Hage criticised the report and said it was not the role of a local council to manipulate the housing market. “The justification is that the ratepayers are in financial hardship because of the housing situation at the moment, but the ratepayers are actually happy because houses are going up in value,” she said. “It’s not part of their strategic planning; private or residential properties are not something the council should be involved in.” A city of Karratha spokesperson said the council had set aside $250,000 in this year’s budget to develop a business plan for the housing development. “In November, council invited proposals from key stakeholders regarding opportunities to invest in property development to alleviate current and predicted future housing stress on the community,” they said. “Council considers housing availability a priority and is concerned the real estate market could tighten further without an injection of new dwellings.”