Victoria’s focus on worker accommodation projects is ramping up as construction gets under way and developments complete.
Under the latest projects to be funded by the state Regional Worker Accommodation Fund (RAWF), 69 new housing units designed to attract healthcare professionals to underserved areas in Victoria’s regions are being supported.
Construction has now begun at four locations while the project at Irymple completed earlier than forecast. The projects are targeting accommodation shortages that have hampered recruitment of medical staff in these areas.
The RAWF is a $250-million investment plan combining public and private funding to deliver more than 20 shovel-ready projects across Victoria that will deliver at least 1000 new bedrooms supporting health, agriculture, education, manufacturing and tourism industries.
Premier Jacinta Allan said the targeted approach helped essential workers find affordable accommodation while making it easier for employers to attract and retain staff, and that the initiative also eased pressure on local rental markets.
Wonthaggi Hospital (pictured top) is to receive 20 self-contained rooms under a $13-million, two-storey development constructed on hospital grounds next to the Kirrak House aged care facility.
The project is the first health worker initiative approved through the government’s Development Facilitation Program, which provides expedited planning approvals—the Minister for Planning is to determine applications within four months.
Bass Coast Health interim chief executive Simone Alexander said the project would “benefit the community by helping Bass Coast Health to attract the healthcare workers who provide a wide range of specialist medical services locally”.
Kyabram and District Health Service is to gain two single-bedroom units constructed by Benalla-based Timberline Constructions. Completion is expected in early 2026.
The accommodation addresses gaps for visiting hospital staff at the facility, which has served the community since 1933.
Kerang District Health will receive three new units of two and three-bedroom configurations, to be delivered by regional firms McKnight & Bray Building Design and Cavalier Homes.
Meanwhile, two houses of a 10-unit development at Irymple have been completed ahead of schedule by Mildura-based MCBG Karadoc, providing 28 bedrooms for healthcare, education and law enforcement workers.
MCBG Karadoc director Ben Garraway said the housing addressed critical shortages for a “community [that] has grown dramatically in the past few years and [is] in desperate need of housing”.
Construction has begun for the Bairnsdale Regional Health Service of 26 units for more than 30 people on a site across the road from the Day Street Hospital Campus.
It will support staff serving East Gippsland communities from the far east to the northern high country.
Regional Victoria accounts for about a quarter of the state’s economic output, making workforce retention critical for sustained growth.
Minister for Regional Development Jaclyn Symes said the fund supported “Victoria’s regions to have the skilled workers they need so our communities can prosper”.
The worker accommodation projects complement Victoria’s $1-billion Regional Housing Fund, which targets 1300 social and affordable homes across rural and regional areas by 2028.
