A major health care employer in Horsham has announced plans to build a 36-unit accommodation development to help solve the region's chronic medical specialist shortage.
Grampians Health (GH) has today announced it is partnering with Ballarat-based specialist accommodation provider Elmstone Property Group (EPG) to deliver 36 units at a cost of $8.3 million.
A location and an exact construction start date for the new development in western Victoria are both yet to be confirmed.
GH Horsham Allocations officer Di Schmidt said a lack of suitable accommodation was a key reason behind a shortage of specialists in the Wimmera region's largest town.
"They have moved to different areas around Victoria.
"Another girl and her sister live just up the road, and she started her graduation year in January and it has taken her until now to find a good house in Horsham."
She also spoke about a couple from Queensland who came to work in the emergency department and as a specialised nurse.
"I think they applied for 30 houses and they both had jobs to come to," Ms Schmidt said.
"I just can't get over the amount they tried for."
EPG chief executive officer Stuart Benjamin said housing was one of the biggest reasons people chose to move to regions.
"We ran some informal focus groups with some of the people that would be occupying these apartments, and the main bit of feedback that came back was all about the block-out curtains and good sound insulation," he said.
The current state of affairs
GH CEO Dale Fraser said the organisation currently rents out properties in Horsham to specialists and their families, recruited both locally and from overseas, and rotating interns and nurse agency staff.
"Finding properties in rural cities is a challenge," he said.
According to independent property advisor and forecaster, SQM Research, residential vacancy rates in Horsham were at 0.6 per cent as of April, after reaching a 15-year low of 0.3 per cent in January.
Mr Benjamin said a number of sites had been identified for the units' construction, but a site near the hospital was crucial because some staff did not drive.
"One of the things we'd like … is to invite people if they have other sites they'd be interested in putting forward to us," he said.
Mr Benjamin said a building partner of Elmstone's in Horsham would most likely be awarded the contract to build the units.
