ABC Great Southern

Rental Housing

Friday, 26 June 2026, 10:01 am

Gnowangerup relies on migrant workers for construction jobs.

In short:

Gnowangerup has many jobs but no homes for workers.

Industry leaders are looking for a solution to keep workers in the area.

What's next?

A local group will start 3D-printing houses for workers.

A town in Western Australia is taking action to get more homes and help its economy grow.

In Gnowangerup, businesses are doing well, but they cannot grow because they cannot find workers.

The main reason is that there are not enough houses for workers to live in.

Business is slow

Most workers at Duraquip are migrants who need homes.

The owner of Duraquip says the lack of homes is a big problem for his business.

Garry Richardson owns Duraquip.

Garry said that as his business grew, he needed more homes for his workers.

Joefre Macaspac is a worker who came to Australia but had trouble finding a place to live.

He likes Australia but had a hard time finding a home.

Gnowangerup is working on local solutions to provide homes for workers.

3D solution

The community is hopeful that they have found a solution to their housing problem.

A local group has bought land to build homes with another group, House 3D.

Graeme Paterson and Cassandra Beeck will use 3D printing to build more homes.

Graeme said that 3D printing will make homes cheaper and faster to build.

He said it would be 20 to 30 percent cheaper.

Cassandra said the project would help the local economy.

She said it would be great to provide homes for workers so they can afford to live in the area.

Caleb Richardson's factory has many orders but not enough workers.

Caleb said that more homes would help the local economy grow.

He said that new housing projects would have a big positive impact on the local economy.

If there were more homes, they could get more skilled workers and grow their business.

Many small towns in Western Australia are getting smaller.

But Gnowangerup is doing the opposite.

ABC Great Southern has local news.

Friday, 26 June 2026, 10:01 am

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