Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and Minister for Regional Development Gayle Tierney visited Goulburn Valley Health Friday to announce investments in housing for regional workers.
As regional communities try to attract workers in key industries like health care, agriculture, and tourism, a lack of affordable housing can be a barrier.
For paediatric trainee Chloe Bykersma, accommodation was a big factor when she was deciding which hospitals she’d prefer to train with.
“It’s hugely important,” Dr Bykersma said.
She’s training at Goulburn Valley Health for six months.
The hospital organised housing for her, and Dr Bykersma said that took a lot of stress out of the equation when starting her placement.
“Definitely when I’ve put in preferences in the past, accommodation has been one of the huge factors that’s played in when I’ve ended up picking what places I wanted to go,” she said.
GV Health Chief Executive Matt Sharp said access to accommodation had been a real challenge for the hospital.
“We know it’s one of the greatest barriers that we have in attracting and retaining a skilled workforce to GV Health,” Mr Sharp said.
Now, GV Health is getting help from the Victorian Government to build more worker housing on-site at the Graham Street campus in Shepparton.
A complex of 15 self-contained single- and multi-bedroom apartments will house doctors and other health staff at the campus.
Construction is slated to start early next year, with completion expected in mid-2026.
A total of $10,194,000 will be invested in the project.
Part of the funding comes from GV Health, and part of it comes from the state government’s $150 million Regional Worker Accommodation Fund.
The state government declined to provide a breakdown of how much will come from each source.
Premier Jacinta Allan and Minister for Regional Development Gayle Tierney announced grants for more than 20 projects Friday, designed to boost affordable housing for workers and their families across Victoria.
Roughly $75 million is being invested in this first round of grants, according to Ms Allan.
Private funding brings the investment in this round to nearly $250 million, Ms Allan said.
“Being able to attract the skilled workers you need can be a challenge. That challenge can be made even harder when you have a shortage of accessible and affordable homes,” Ms Allan said.
Ms Allan said this round of grants will contribute more than 1,000 new bedrooms across the state for workers and will help relieve some of the pressure in local rental markets.
“It’s all designed to support workers to come and live, and work, in great parts of regional and rural Victoria, make a great contribution to those local regions and economies through the skills that they bring,” she said.
“It has that additional benefit of helping to ease that pressure off the local rental market.”
With the addition of the new on-site apartments at GV Health, the organisation estimates up to 10 to 15 properties will be returned to the local rental market.
GV Health has roughly 150 workers being accommodated in Shepparton and Mooroopna each night in rental housing and serviced apartments.
Two other projects receiving grants in the Shepparton area will see accommodation built for workers at fresh food producers.
Seeka Australia will build a new worker village for 60 workers at their site in Mundoona, and Kalafatis Group will build 12 new townhouses in Shepparton.
Ms Tierney said the housing investments will help ensure appropriate staffing levels.
“It’s incredibly important to support regional workers and regional worker accommodation,” she said.
Ms Tierney said workforce housing could also encourage people to see communities with seasonal work as somewhere they can put down roots.
“Good quality jobs are here, we want to make sure that they also have good quality housing,” Ms Tierney said.
Some other investments in the state include housing at the state’s alpine resorts.
Ms Tierney said part of the application process required businesses to identify ongoing uses for the accommodations that may be intended to support seasonal workers.
She said projects will be monitored closely.