Housing for Government officers to GROH in Albany

Attraction and retention of Government officers to Albany will be aided by the re-introduction of Government Regional Officer Housing (GROH) to the area, announced today by Housing and Works Minister Troy Buswell.

"Government agencies in regional areas, such as Albany often find recruitment challenging, with one of the contributing factors to this being the tight private rental market," Mr Buswell said.

"I hope the presence of GROH in Albany will make it a more attractive option for Government staff considering a move to a regional area.

"By making it easier to obtain housing, we are removing one barrier to attracting our best and brightest staff to regional areas."

The GROH program is run by the Department of Housing, which owns or leases properties on behalf of Government and makes them available to other State Government agencies in regional communities.

In some cases the agencies subsidise the rent for their staff as an incentive to attract staff to regional areas.

For several years, WA Police has been the only agency with access to GROH housing in Albany.

All other Government agencies have been advised of the re-introduction and asked to identify their immediate needs for staff housing in Albany.

In the next two-years 40 properties will be available to Government Agencies at an estimated cost of $769,000.