Truckable, liveable homes within a month — could prefabricated builds be the quick fix to solve Queensland's housing crisis?
Fifty-two homes with either two or three bedrooms each will be delivered across the state in the coming months in a pilot project run by the state government.
The prefab homes cost about the same as a standard unit and some can be built in just four weeks, according to Housing Minister Leanne Enoch.
Housing advocates welcome the initiative but say the volume is nowhere near enough to tackle the social housing waitlist – which stands at 46,000 people.
A two-bedroom home in just four weeks
Rick Bell runs one of the companies building the prefabricated homes.
"It's just getting people's mindset to change and go, 'Hey, this isn't what they used to call a donger. It's actually a home'," he said.
"They consist of two- and three-bedroom, either a single bathroom or two bathrooms, ensuite with all the standard home qualities and fittings and fixtures that you normally have."
Ms Enoch said if successful, the project could be expanded.
"If that pilot project does what we hope it does, then we'll expect to see potentially more of these kinds of projects into the future," she said.
The homes are designed to fit on the back of a truck and will be sent to Ipswich, Logan, Central Queensland and the Wide Bay, where they will be set up on land earmarked for social housing.
"During the housing summit, certainly there was huge support for this kind of work," Ms Enoch said.
"These are potentially being constructed within a month's time, that just absolutely fast-tracks our ability to get them on the ground.
"Obviously, there's still construction work to be done on the ground, which will take some time, and connecting to the various utilities, but that just gives us that chance to fast-track [building], particularly in regional and rural Queensland."
'Nowhere near enough'
Stakeholders are due to reconvene with the state government next month to see what progress has been made since the October housing summit.
In its wake, the government promised to funnel an additional $1 billion into social and affordable homes, but has yet to publicly announce a plan to tackle the issue.
Queensland Council of Social Service CEO Aimee McVeigh said the prefab pilot was nowhere near enough to meet demand right now.
"We have a population the size of Gympie on our Social Housing Register, and you can't find an affordable place to rent across the state," she said.
"So far, we haven't seen any commitments that really meet us in the moment.
"When you have piecemeal one-off funding announcements with small amounts of houses being delivered without time frames, it's very difficult to see how the government has responded to the crisis in a way that will get us out of this mess."
She said she would like to see a plan to address the social housing shortage at next month's roundtable meeting.
"We would like to see the government present their forecasting of what the current and future need for Queensland in terms of housing looks like.
"We then need to see a plan being developed together with the private sector, with the community sector, with all levels of government to create a plan that meets us in this moment," Ms McVeigh said.
The state government said since October's summit, it had provided $5.8 million to help 3,000 Queensland households extend their tenancies as part of its $45 million Immediate Housing Response package.
