Defence housing crisis leaves soldiers struggling for accommodation

Soliders living on base are being evicted en masse as Army units move into North Queensland, but the Defence Minister says the government can meet the housing “challenge”.

Soliders are living in guard rooms in Townsville and troops living on base are being evicted en masse as Army units move into North Queensland, but the Defence Minister says the government can meet the housing “challenge”.

In late 2023 the Defence and the federal government revealed that Townsville’s postion as a military hub would be growing with more 500 new troops - and their families - headed to the region.

Last year, Adelaide infantry soldiers began and while this move was staggered it did not prevent them from struggling to find housing, with many being forced to seek emergency accommodation while dozens of Defence Housing Australia (DHA) propeties remain derelict and empty.

This masthead understands late last year personnel at a Townsville infantry unit who had lived in the on-base accommodation for multiple years were evicted to make room for new march ins as there was not enough accommodation available.

A soldier, who chose to remain anonymous, said while evicting soldiers after multiple years of living on base to make room for new personnel was “common practice” he had never seen it to this large of a scale.

Sources told the Bulletin that soldiers who could not find accommodation late last year were forced to access emergency accommodation which included living in guard rooms or hotels for weeks at a time.

On Friday the DHA website had no available homes for Townsville defence force members who were seeking homes without dependants.

Following the announcement of the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) in 2023 the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles said they had five to six years “to get this right” while former Mayor Jenny Hill emphasized the fact that “defence housing isn’t working.”

In an exclusive interview with the Bulletin, Defence Minster Richard Marles reiterated that “housing is an ongoing challenge, but it’s one that we feel we can meet.”

“The growth in defence numbers here isn’t happening overnight but we do need to be making sure that we are dealing with the challenge of housing and ensuring that there is enough housing,” he said.

“Defence numbers growing is a really good thing for Townsville, it is great for the economy, we are very mindful of what we need to do with housing.”

In May 2024, former Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said the influx of troops wouldn’t “be immediate” while Veterans Affairs and Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said in December DHA had the capacity to house soldiers because they weren’t “all hitting the Townsville market” at once.

On Wednesday, a DHA spokeswoman said the vacancy rate now sat at 2.57 with just over 100 homes added to their Townsville portfolio.

In October last year, the rental availability for Townsville sat at 1.22 per cent.

A new wave of 350 ADF personnel are also set to arrive this year as Darwin’s 1st Aviation moves to Townsville with the Army’s fleet of Apache helicopters.

More soliders from Adeliade will also arrive, bringing the city’s total defence population to more than 4700.

Shadow Defence Assistant Minister, Mr Thompson, said his office had been continually contacted by families that were concerned about where they were going to live, where their children would go to school and what medical centre they’ll be able to get their families into.

“The language that people aren’t moving from Adelaide to Townsville overnight is hypocritical,” he said.

“Since we’ve had soldiers sleeping in guard rooms, in temporary accommodation on base, and some moved into temporary accommodation into hotels.

“No one in the Labor Federal Government took this seriously, so instead of planning quickly and early, they are now rushing and going to be late.

“We have soldiers who are moving to Townsville who want to embed with their units, prepare, be the best that they can be, living in guard rooms on base in shared accommodation.”

Mr Thompson said the lack of prioritisation from the government towards defence housing had made soldiers feel undervalued.

“We’re going to have Apaches flying in the sky in a matter of months, we’re going to have soldiers from Adelaide all here in a matter of months but what we don’t have is the infrastructure to support this move, because the Labor government, and Richard Marles, has had the wrong focus,” he said.

Last year two new housing developments were announced, one in Shaw which would provide 420 new homes, the first of which would be available in 2026.

The other was announced for Aitkenvale and would be completed by 2028.

Originally published as Defence housing crisis leaves soldiers struggling for accommodation