To tackle the rising homelessness and the 46,000+ backlog on the social housing register, the Queensland Government has embarked on a massive public housing program to boost housing supply across the state. The housing program is also based on Modern Methods of Construction to ensure accelerated delivery of the housing units.

To this end, the Government recently opened the QBuild Rapid Accommodation and Apprenticeship Centre (QRAAC) at Eagle Farm in Brisbane, where prefabricated homes will be constructed and transported to where they are needed, especially in regional areas across Queensland. Prefabricated house frames, bathroom modules and flat-packed kitchens manufactured at the QBuild facility can be quickly shipped across the state to provide fully built homes in a matter of weeks.

In addition to meeting the social housing requirement, this is also expected to attract critical government employees such as teachers, nurses, and police officers to remote areas where there is a housing shortage.

While the move is expected to boost the prefabricated housing sector and is viewed as a welcome step to addressing the rising housing crisis, can factory-built homes offer a solution to Queensland’s social and affordable housing shortage?

Following the Queensland Housing Summit in October 2022, the Palaszczuk Government’s Housing Investment Fund (HIF) was boosted to $2 billion to support a revised target of 5,600 social and affordable home commencements across Queensland by 30 June 2027.

Emphasising the Government’s priority to build more social and affordable homes for Queenslanders, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said, “We’ve built more than 4,000 social and affordable homes, commenced building more than 5,000, and we’re commencing 13,000 by 2027.”

At the QBuild Brisbane facility’s inauguration, the Premier reiterated the government’s commitment to consider every option to address the Queensland housing challenge.

“These state-of-the-art factory-built houses for our frontline workers are critical to delivering essential services to regional Queenslanders, while easing the pressure on rental markets. This facility will deliver new homes for our frontline nurses, teachers, and police in regional and remote Queensland, along with safe, affordable and appropriate social housing for the community’s most vulnerable,” she said.

The facility is also expected to meet the current shortage of skilled labour in the construction industry, with 30 new apprentices to be trained at QRAAC. Prefabricated homes also generate substantially reduced construction waste, addressing the issue of high building material costs.

Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni says that the new housing construction factory will use modern prefabricated designs to speed up the delivery of supply in Queensland.

“By streamlining the supply chain and cutting waste, we can deliver homes quicker with better value for money, freeing up our tradies to build even more. By incorporating our apprentices, it means we will have a future workforce trained in modern building techniques, to ensure we continue to deliver housing supply that meets our future needs.”

The prefab homes will be based on standardised designs that respond to Queensland’s four key climate zones, meet the new 7-star energy efficiency and accessibility standards in the new National Construction Code, and can be built in QBuild’s factory regardless of weather.

Work will commence on 189 homes this year for government workers across the state, with 93 builds to be completed by the end of the year.

The Queensland Housing Strategy 2017-2027 plans to commence almost 10,000 new homes over its 10-year period. The Queensland Government is investing a total of $3.9 billion in social and affordable housing – the largest concentrated investment in Queensland’s history.

However, keeping in mind the huge waiting list for social housing, prefab homes, which can be constructed in 12-16 weeks and cost less than conventional construction, could be the pathway to fast-tracking social and affordable housing supply in the state.

Observing that the QRAAC will support Queensland’s most ambitious housing construction program since the end of World War II, Minister de Brenni says that QBuild will be partnering with the private sector to help deliver more homes where and when they’re needed, faster and more cost-effectively.

Image source: Ausco Modular

Branko Miletic

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