The Minns Labor Government is delivering a record $22.6 million in teacher housing upgrades, including refurbishing teacher homes in the Riverina, as part of our commitment to strengthen regional communities.
As part of the Minns Government's record spend on upgrades, $1.6 million is being spent refurbishing 20 teacher homes across small rural towns in the Riverina, including Ardlethan, Hay, Hillston, and Pleasant Hills.
One of the biggest barriers to attracting and retaining teachers in regional NSW is a lack of housing, which is why the Minns Government has launched a new education housing plan to further improve access to quality teacher housing across regional, remote, and rural NSW.
The Education Housing Strategy and Action Plan will deliver better access to teacher housing by increasing the supply and quality of homes, improving maintenance and support for teachers in teacher housing, and strengthening incentives for teachers to work in regional NSW.
The plan was a key response to the Auditor General's scathing 2023 report on the Liberals and Nationals Rural and Remote Education Strategy which found it failed to improve outcomes for children in the bush due to the former Government's lack of ideas, solutions and action.
The plan outlines a range of actions to improve teacher housing over the next three years, including:
- The use of modular homes to address challenges in regional areas where there is a lack of available housing and isolation.
- Slashing by a quarter the time taken to complete tenant maintenance requests.
- Investigating the viability of housing incentives like rent-to-buy schemes.
- Undertaking regular tenant surveys to gather feedback and increase tenant satisfaction by making further improvements.
Since 2023 the Minns Labor Government has delivered 137 of the 221 planned new teacher homes as part of the Key Worker Housing Program.
The Minns Government acknowledges the housing crisis in NSW, and the need to build more homes, which is why we are delivering unprecedented investment to provide more affordable key worker housing.
For more information about the Education Housing Strategy and Action plan visit: https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/strategies-and-reports/education-housing-strategy-and-action-plan.
For more information about working in regional NSW visit: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teach-nsw/find-teaching-jobs/choose-rural.
Acting Minister for Education and Early Learning Courtney Houssos said:
"Ensuring our teachers have access to safe, comfortable homes is essential for attracting and keeping teachers in regional and remote schools.
"We know supporting our dedicated teachers in the bush was not a priority for the Liberals and Nationals, whose so-called plan for regional education was a complete failure.
"The Minns Labor Government has reduced teacher vacancies in schools across regional NSW, and to continue to attract staff to our schools, they need to have somewhere to live."
Minister for Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson said:
"Regional communities are crying out for more teachers, but you can't recruit them if there's a lack of good, quality housing. This is why initiatives like this are so vital for regional NSW.
"We're combatting teacher shortages in regional NSW by delivering more teacher homes and upgrading the ones we already have."
Executive Director, Regional, Rural, Remote and Unique Settings, Dean White, said:
"The Department of Education and Homes NSW are working together to address the challenges in regional teacher housing."
"We're confident this plan will lead to improvements on the ground for our teachers and our schools."
