Mayoral Memo - 19 June 2024
I am playing another round of hypotheticals this week. What I am about to propose is fictional but used to demonstrate a point and hopefully generate some meaningful discussions. Play along with me.
We know that there is a lot of competition for employee talent at the moment. Dubbo’s unemployment rate hovers one per cent below the national number. Employers in Dubbo find it difficult to find employees to keep delivering their services to the community.
Council is no different. Without adequate staffing levels, all of our services to the community are hampered. That can be in processing a DA or mowing the sporting fields. We also know there is a housing shortage in Dubbo and affordability of housing is an issue. Interest rates have played a major part in this affordability. Consider that the RBA dropped interest rates to an historical low of 0.10 per cent in November 2020 and maintained them at that rate until May 2022 when we saw our first increase in rates since November 2010. By November 2023, interest rates had risen to 4.35 per cent.
My hypothetical solution is for Council to use ratepayer funds to build an estate of homes in Dubbo only for Council employees. These homes could be rented exclusively by our staff at a twenty per cent discount compared to market rent. This would improve the affordability of housing for those employees essential to the running of our city and make it easier to attract staff to Dubbo. I admit there are some minor kinks to iron out in my plan. We have over 500 staff employed so building 500 homes would be a massive challenge. How do we decide which of our staff can access the first homes built? If a staff member already owned their home, would it be acceptable for that person to rent their home out and move to the subsidised Council home? This solution would help attract Council staff to Dubbo but once they arrived, would they find we still had staff shortages in other areas? I am not proposing to offer discounted housing to other employers but Council employees would still need their baristas to make their morning coffee and accountants to do their tax returns and supermarket employees to sell them their weekly food.
Maybe I haven’t thought this plan through yet? Maybe a target to just the one specific group of employees, subsidised by the community, won’t deliver a great solution?
Perhaps it would be better to work holistically on delivering more housing which helps with access and affordability for all of our residents. And this is not the hypothetical part. More information will be revealed at the Mayoral Developers Forum being held on Wednesday night at 5:30pm at the Western Plains Cultural Centre. Everyone involved in the development industry is invited.
Councillor Mathew Dickerson
Mayor of Dubbo Regional Council
Last Edited: 18 Jun 2024