Local council asks WA government to halt demolition plans

Residents of a small mining town in WA have called on the state government to stop demolishing public housing, in the midst of a housing crisis.

Transcript

00:00 This Koolgaardie house is what real estate agents call a renovator's delight.

00:06 It was damaged by storms in 2018 and needs significant repairs.

00:11 It could be fixed if they took the time to fix it.

00:14 I mean, they've been saying some of the houses that they are on waiting list to be

00:18 fixed.

00:19 It shouldn't take six years.

00:21 But it's now scheduled for imminent demolition.

00:24 The government is planning to sell the vacant land.

00:27 I know of three people that have approached state housing to buy these.

00:33 And they said no, they're not selling them.

00:35 They're going to do them up.

00:36 That was the story they kept getting.

00:37 The Department of Communities says it would cost more than $350,000 to fix the house.

00:43 The local council has appealed to the housing minister to stop the demolition.

00:47 It's ridiculous that they went up to demolish a brick house with a really solid jar of timber

00:53 roof.

00:54 The owners of Koolgaardie's supermarket tried to buy a government house which has

00:58 been vacant for several years.

01:00 And then we've tried to purchase this building directly behind us.

01:03 They came back with saying, no, sorry, it's not for purchase.

01:07 It'll be earmarked for repairs.

01:09 And that was four years ago.

01:13 The department says it has built 23 new social housing homes in this region over the past

01:17 three years.

01:18 26 have been refurbished and substantial maintenance has been completed on more than 250 other

01:24 homes.

01:25 We're throwing everything at it.

01:27 There's not a time or moment which I draw a line in the sand and say, that's all we

01:33 can do.

01:34 A worsening housing crisis with no end in sight.

01:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]