When Leylanie Burke moved her family back to her home town a year ago, she did not expect to be spending her second Christmas living out of a motel.
“I started applying for houses probably in January of this year,” Ms Burke said.
“I’ve probably applied for like 20 houses.”
Cloncurry in outback Queensland is home for 3,100 people, but locals say it is growing and since the announcement of the Eva Copper Project last month, will continue to do so.
The mining project will require the same number of workers as a third of the town’s population, but how many will be locally employed versus fly-in fly-out is yet to be determined.
Ms Burke said in the year she had spent applying for rentals, hardly any that were in her size and price range were available.
“You’d probably see one or two pop up every couple of months,” she said.
When they first moved back from Cairns, Ms Burke, her three children and one grandchild temporarily stayed with Ms Burke’s aunt, but moved into a motel in May as the house was getting crowded.
She works full-time as a client support officer, while her adult daughter works as a cleaner.
They rent two motel rooms between the five of them for a total of $1,000 a week.
“It makes me feel like I’m working for nothing,” Ms Burke said.
“Especially working in the community and trying to contribute to the community.”
Rentals ‘snapped up’, says real estate agent
Cloncurry real estate owner Janessa Bidgood said Ms Burke’s story was not unique.
“It’s become quite normal to hear that people are living in a motel,” Ms Bidgood said.
“There’s one motel in town that is 50 per cent, sometimes more, full of people that are permanent residents.”
Janessa Bidgood says homes need to be built quickly to alleviate Cloncurry’s housing crunch. (ABC News: Maddie Nixon)
Ms Bidgood said it was a fluctuating market, but where there would have been 10 to 15 rentals available in the past, it had become increasingly competitive.
“Occasionally we get five or six rentals available, they all get snapped up and then we’re back to zero,” she said.
Cloncurry is on the verge of significant growth, Ms Bidgood says, which could be hindered if no new houses are built.
“We were already full before Eva [Copper] made that announcement,” she said.
“If we’re gonna invite them to our town and encourage them to live here, we really need to think about how we get more houses in this town right now.”
Building houses in the outback is costly.
Ms Bidgood said if a developer were able to build 20 homes as one project, it might alleviate the costs for individuals looking to invest in rental properties.
“If people can’t find a rental in Cloncurry, they go FIFO,” she said.
“We all know what FIFO does to these little communities and it’s not good news.”
Cloncurry in outback Queensland is home to just over 3,100 people. (ABC News: Maddie Nixon)
Local mayor calls on mining giant to build homes
Since South Africa–based Harmony Gold gave its Eva Copper Project the green light, Cloncurry Shire Mayor Greg Campbell has called for the mining giant to invest in local housing.
“For a project of this size, it is reasonable to expect Harmony to invest in housing so their families can live in Cloncurry, not just all fly in and fly out,” Mr Campbell said.
The mine is forecast to produce 60,000 tonnes of copper per year over a 15-year mine life, creating up to 1,000 jobs during construction and more than 450 jobs ongoing.
“We think a meaningful percentage of the 450 to 500 operational jobs should be based here in town,” he said.
“This will be one of the biggest single investments our shire has ever seen, and rates revenue from the mine will eventually contribute to council’s budget.
“However, the language from Harmony on the barriers to their staff living locally makes it clear they have not heard the message yet.”
Greg Campbell has been calling for “concrete community benefits” from the Eva Copper Project. (Supplied: Cloncurry Shire Council)
The multi-billion-dollar company has not outlined any housing plans despite the mayor calling for a 1 per cent investment of the project’s total capital value into housing for staff.
Harmony Gold’s Chief Development Officer, Johannes van Heerden, said the company was “happy to engage with the mayor on his concerns” but made no concrete commitments.
“In terms of the livability of a town, obviously housing is important, but there’s other aspects that are also very relevant,” Mr van Heerden said.
“We want to make sure we do an assessment of all the various elements that impact, whether it’s schools, whether it’s housing, whether it’s health, to incentivise people to live locally.”
Despite her struggles to find a home, Leylanie Burke is determined to stay in Cloncurry. (ABC News: Maddie Nixon)
‘I want to stay’
Leylanie Burke, who grew up in Cloncurry before moving to the east coast 12 years ago, has family ties to the town dating back to the 1920s.
She thought moving back to her home town would be easier.
“I thought we would have somewhere by now,” she said.
Even though she will still be in the motel this Christmas, she does not want to leave Cloncurry.
“I want to stay here because I have a good job, I love my job. The kids have got their friends, their family, they love it here,” she said.
“It’s draining mentally, I just hope something comes up soon.”