Housing crisis in WA's north as Pilbara rents skyrocket

Soaring rents are forcing some to leave their homes in WA's Pilbara region.

Transcript

00:00The economy is booming in the Pilbara. Iron ore, gas, hydrogen and solar power are all

00:06being expanded here. Life is good for those employed by resource industries, but the boom

00:11has a downside.

00:12750

00:13Debra Duff's rent for her three bedroom home has just climbed to $950 a week, and the single

00:19parent has decided to leave Carartha.

00:21It's so hard on people, everyday people, normal people, you know, people that don't work for

00:28the big mining companies.

00:29In 2018, the median weekly rent in Carartha was $470 a week. By the end of 2023, it had

00:36jumped to $1100, an increase of more than 130%.

00:41We were originally paying $979 a week, and we received a lease agreement saying that

00:49the rent had gone up to $1850 a week, and when we first saw it, we actually thought

00:54it was a typo.

00:56David Murgatroyd has experienced rental boom and bust cycles in Carartha for over a decade,

01:01but he's shocked by the latest increases. Housing pressure is exacerbated by the fact

01:05most homes are owned by mining companies.

01:08Of all the houses in Carartha, only 26% are owned by people like myself, mums and dads.

01:1474% is a mining investment.

01:17Locals are calling for creative solutions to ease the pressure on housing, like having

01:21modular homes built in Perth and sent to the Pilbara.

01:24And then bringing it up and putting it together like a Meccano set would be certainly a next

01:28step to try and reduce the cost.

01:30With imminent plans for $37 billion worth of new resource projects in Carartha, there's

01:34a race against time to build enough homes to house a rapidly expanding workforce. Time

01:39Deborah Duff doesn't have.

01:41So many people leave Carartha because of the situation they're put in.

01:46Billion dollar projects with a high cost for renters.