High-quality modular homes delivered to serviced land allotments in sections on the back of a truck would be used to house essential workers in remote areas, under a trial proposed by Renewal SA’s Office for Regional Housing.
The Office for Regional Housing is planning to lead a pilot project this year, hoping to demonstrate that modern, modular, transportable homes are a viable option to provide well-priced, high-quality, key worker housing in small rural communities.
Matt Hunt, Director of the Office for Regional Housing, said solving housing supply shortages in such areas required innovative and efficient construction methods, and he was keen to prove modular transportable homes have a role to play.
“There have been vast improvements in the quality and design of modular transportable homes in recent years, and we think they can offer a viable solution in communities crying out for worker housing, that struggle to find builders to provide it,” Mr Hunt said.
The proposed trial will see a $2.15 million state government investment to procure a range of modular housing options as a proof of concept.
The homes are prefabricated in a factory environment over three to six months, constructed as compact modules that can be safely transported and assembled on-site. This is estimated to reduce build time by up to 20% compared to traditional construction methods.
Unlike conventional builds, modular homes require significantly fewer tradespeople on-site, addressing one of the major challenges in regions, which suffer from limited access to an established construction workforce.
Modular housing has gained significant popularity overseas, particularly in Scandinavian countries, where high labour costs and harsh climates make efficient, prefabricated construction especially appealing.
In the first instance, houses under the trial will be set up in a small display village in metropolitan Adelaide where they will be made available for inspection by key stakeholders who may be interested in leasing, owning, funding or approving this type of housing.
Following the display trial, the houses will be relocated to regional locations for use by teachers, police, healthcare and other key service workers in smaller regional towns.
“By creating a centralised display village, we hope to provide an opportunity for housing investors and worker agencies to inspect and hopefully abandon any misconceptions they may have of modular housing,” Mr Hunt said.
“We have earmarked some possible sites that might be suitable to reconstruct the display village homes where we will look to house workers as a practical extension of the trial.”
Mr Hunt’s long-term vision for the trial is to demonstrate the viability to the private sector in establishing substantial modular housing capability within the state, underpinned by consistent demand from investors.
“Multiple local, interstate and international manufacturers are developing high-quality, multi-module, transportable housing solutions,” he said.
“Many of these potential suppliers have approached the state government expressing a strong desire to establish or expand their presence in the South Australian market.
“We can have the supply; we just need to firm up the demand. And to do that, you need to give people the opportunity to check out the product.”
Renewal SA is working to establish a panel of trusted suppliers of modular housing to further speed up the process of getting workers into homes sooner.
The panel will be comprised of a selection of pre-approved suppliers, intending to remove lengthy procurement processes, reducing the time between identifying need and delivering a home.
The 2025-2026 federal budget included a $54 million investment over four years to increase the supply and adoption of prefabricated and modular housing. It included $49.3 million over two years to support states and territories to scale up existing projects for prefabricated and modular housing construction.
The modular display village is expected to open between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026.
The use of modular housing will add another method of housing delivery to the Office for Regional Housing, which has been building accommodation for key workers across the state since early 2024.
The Regional Key Worker Housing Scheme, administered by the Office for Regional Housing, has seen the construction of 24 two- and three-bedroom homes across the Copper Coast, Riverland, Mount Gambier, Port Augusta, with six more under construction in Ceduna.
The houses accommodate essential workers in healthcare, law enforcement and education, and are in the process of being sold to the private market, with guaranteed 10-year rental agreements from the state government.
Innovative building products are already being used by the Office for Regional Housing in Ceduna, with four homes almost finished structural insulated panels (SIPs) manufactured in Perth.
These SIPS, manufactured by Australian firm SipForm essentially replace the need for frames, external cladding, and internal lining and insulation, all in one integrated product.
The easy-to-assemble, high-quality, environmentally friendly modular panels reduce the need for multiple trades on one site and have the potential to progress a house from slab to lockup in a fortnight.
“These homes are not transportable; they still require a slab and many of the fixtures as a traditional build but are another example of innovative options that could prove viable in areas where supplies and trades are hard to source,” Mr Hunt added.
Elsewhere across the state, the Office for Regional Housing has kicked off over a dozen new projects under the Regional Key Worker Housing Scheme as well as partnership agreements under the Regional Housing Initiative Program.
Mr Hunt expects the introduction of modular housing and other modern methods of construction into the mix will extend the viability of these projects, with improvements in speed to market and cost efficiency.