Port Hedland commissioners warn against more remote workers while adopting draft Staff Housing Strategy

A new draft staff housing strategy aimed at addressing staff retention woes at the Town of Port Hedland has been adopted by the local authority’s commissioners at their last council meeting. According to town officers, there is a shortfall of about 29 staff dwellings at present, with that number estimated to rise to about 40 by 2035. The strategy, laid out in agenda documents for the council’s ordinary meeting on March 25, offers eight options to help solve that shortfall over a 10‑year period. Options outlined included constructing new houses on council-owned land, purchasing pre-built properties on the open market, rental assistance and home ownership schemes, long‑term leasing and a build‑to‑rent program. The most controversial of the options is to increasing the number of remote workers. Building new homes would be the most expensive option, at an estimated $32m, while purchasing existing homes would cost an estimated $19.7m. The cost of rental options are estimated at $11.5m while offering staff subsidies to buy their own homes would hit the budget by roughly $13.1m. In contrast, remote working models would result in a net gain of $5.4m and $2.4m respectively, as they remove the need for staff housing and regional allowances. Despite approving the draft strategy, commissioner Jessica Shaw said the incoming council should be “very careful” when considering an increase in the number of remote workers. “I do think that we council needs to consider very carefully how it utilises those things and maybe put those a little lower down the order of options but that’s just a suggestion,” she said. Commissioner Martin Aldridge also urged the incoming council to think carefully before considering more remote workers to tackle the issue. “What worries me is the cheapest approach is the remote working approach,” he said. “I would add some caution to council to not just join the chorus of large industry players who fly the white flag and say it’s all too hard and we’re just going to fly our workforce in from Perth. “We actually need to try harder and tackle some of the challenges associated with recruitment and retention of our workers in the region, in our community, and being part of our community. “It’s obvious that housing is critical to our workforce strategy. The average length of service for a town of Port Hedland employee is 1.9 years. We probably have the lowest long-term retention rate of staff in the local government sector. “All (options) have strengths and weaknesses, but I think unfortunately it’s going to have to see significant capital investment in the long term.” The report also recognised that the town would struggle to retain and attract workers who did not qualify for housing and that the strategy did not provide for all staff who might require housing.