For Vernon Lawrence there is one place in Kununurra which perfectly illustrates the town's housing crisis.
On the fringes of the East Kimberley hub there is a spot where the streets continue but the houses disappear.
For hundreds of metres in every direction there are just vacant lots, often overgrown with weeds like rubber bush.
"These blocks have been empty ever since I've been up here, which is five-and-a-half years," Mr Lawrence said.
The Lakeside Park Estate blocks at the end of Argentea Avenue were released in 2014, but not a single house has been built on them.
Mr Lawrence, the chief executive of Wyndham East Kimberley Shire, says the problem is simple, yet no effective solution has been found.
"The cost of buying a house is far less ... about $100,000 ... than the cost of developing," he said.
"If someone wants to develop these sites, there's just no way that banks will lend."
Housing scheme has little impact
The state government's central land development agency, Development WA, is trying to address the problem with its Regional Land Booster Package, which was launched in July 2020.
Development WA chief executive Frank Marra says the $116-million lot discounting program has contributed to hundreds of lots being contracted across more than 50 regional towns.
"In Kununurra, the regional land booster [package] delivered reductions of up to $49,000 a lot, resulting in residential lots now starting from $113,250 in Lakeside Park and $130,000 in Coolibah," he said.
Despite these discounts, only three residential lots in Kununurra have been sold under the scheme.
New homes needed to ease rental squeeze
The rental market in Kununurra, like many parts of Australia, is extremely tight.
In early 2021 more than 20 rentals were listed on the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia's website. This week there were just three.
The lack of affordable housing has helped fuel a crippling worker shortage in the wider East Kimberley region.
"It's a really, really serious crisis for us," Mr Lawrence said.
"If you chat to the long-term residents. It’s about as bad as it’s ever been."
Mr Lawrence estimates the town needs 300 to 500 more affordable homes to keep pace with the predicted growth of tourism, mining and agriculture.
"We want our town to grow. We want our town to be sustainable. And that means building houses and providing infrastructure for people to have a long-term future here," he said.
Government urged to intervene in market
Mr Lawrence believes the state government needs to think big when approaching the issue.
"A significant injection of grant money that can bridge that gap between what the banks would need to loan people and the ultimate net cost of building," he said.
Mr Marra notes the land booster package is alongside the state government's Building Bonus grant and the federal government's HomeBuilder grant.
"In addition, DevelopmentWA is currently working with Wyndham-East Kimberley Shire and other stakeholders to review our structure planning in Kununurra," he said.
