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The federal government has announced plans to build 500 new properties in Townsville to accommodate new housing for Defence personnel.
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Australian Assistant Minister for Defence Matt Thistlethwaite confirmed during a doorstop interview on 23 May 23 that Defence Housing Australia is seeking interested parties to build 500 new properties in Townsville for future housing of Australian Defence Force troops and their families.
“Defence Housing Australia has gone out to the market to construct about 500 new properties here in Townsville, to house those troops and their families and to provide additional housing for the local community here in Townsville,” Minister Thistlethwaite said.
“This is a win for the Defence population but it’s also a win for the local Townsville community, with additional housing being constructed.
“It will occur over the next five years. At Aitkenvale, we’re just about to announce plans for the construction of 140 homes down by the Ross River and that will go out to tender in the coming months and half of those homes will be for Defence housing and the rest will be for the local community.
“So, there’s a big opportunity for local businesses to engage with Defence Housing Australia to construct those properties to provide that additional housing for the Townsville community.”
The new housing provides a significant opportunity for investors and local businesses to construct the new homes or provide them from existing stock, according to the Assistant Minister for Defence.
“Townsville has been a priority for the government for many, many years; this is a great garrison town,” Minister Thistlethwaite said.
“In the wake of the announcement of the National Defence Strategy, we know that there’s going to be an additional rotation of troops coming to the area, but it’s going to take course over the next four to five years. It’s not going to be immediate, and that provides us with the time to plan those additional troops moving to the area and to build the housing that will accommodate them, as well as building additional housing for the local community.
“Of the 500 troops, almost half of those will be single, unaccompanied and will live on bases at RAAF Base Townsville and at Lavarack Barracks in the live-in accommodation. The remaining 250 odd and their families will be living in the local community in family housing, and that will be constructed by Defence Housing Australia, and it will be leased in the local community. So, Defence Housing Australia will not only construct those properties for Defence Force members, but they always construct additional properties that can be sold or leased members to members of the local community as well.
“It’s been a focus of the government – the Townsville area and the north of Australia – since we came to government, and we immediately started working on ensuring that we made the investments in additional housing in this area. I think it’s worth pointing out that there’s spare capacity in the system at the moment. So, there are properties that can cater for additional troops in the short term. And in the medium to longer term, we’re building those additional properties to ensure that there’s not only housing for Defence Force members, but there’s additional housing for the Townsville community as well and that will take some of the pressure off the local housing market, as well as providing that support for Defence members and their families.”
It’s also understood around 70 properties already located in Aitkenvale are considered uninhabitable and in a state of disrepair resulting from natural disaster damage.
“There are a small number of properties that have people living in them and obviously they would have been given notice that their tenancies will come to an end and the new housing will be constructed. We’re basically doubling the number of houses that will be situated in Aitkenvale and half of those will go to the local community, so they’re going to be further housing options for the local community in the future in that area,” he said.
