‘Lipstick on a pig’: WA’s ‘Seven Cities’ regional housing plan panned

{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","dateModified":"2026-04-28T07:26:17Z","datePublished":"2026-04-28T07:26:17Z","description":"Critics say a plan to inject more than 500 new houses into WA’s Government Regional Officer Housing Program using money from the state’s biggest miners was an admission Labor had dropped the ball on regional development.","headline":"‘Lipstick on a pig’: WA’s ‘Seven Cities’ regional housing plan panned","keywords":"Affordable housing, The Pilbara, The Great Southern, The Kimberley, The Mid-West, The Goldfields","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hamish Hastie","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"/by/hamish-hastie-h0ywju"}],"mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/lipstick-on-a-pig-wa-s-seven-cities-regional-housing-plan-panned-20260428-p5zrt4.html","@type":"WebPage"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","height":"1322.6666666666665","url":"https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.2128%2C$multiply_0.7025%2C$ratio_1.777778%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_110/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/965fd504fa34a820041088f55d3146082f1290e3532c3e35290a17a08fd6194d","width":"744"},"isAccessibleForFree":false,"hasPart":[{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccessibleForFree":false,"cssSelector":".paywall"}],"publisher":{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","name":"The Sydney Morning Herald","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","height":"628","url":"https://www.smh.com.au/metro-assets/assets/static/smh.png","width":"1200"},"url":"https://www.smh.com.au"},"isPartOf":{"@type":["CreativeWork","Product"],"name":"The Sydney Morning Herald","productID":"smh.com.au:webonly"}}{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.smh.com.au/national","name":"National"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.smh.com.au/national/western-australia","name":"WA"},"position":2},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.smh.com.au/topic/affordable-housing-jlp","name":"Affordable housing"},"position":3}]}AdvertisementNationalWAAffordable housing‘Lipstick on a pig’: WA’s ‘Seven Cities’ regional housing plan pannedHamish HastieApril 28, 2026 — 5:26pmSaveYou have reached your maximum number of saved items.Remove items from your saved list to add more.ShareAAAA plan to inject more than 500 new houses into Western Australia’s Government Regional Officer Housing Program using money from the state’s biggest miners has been panned as an admission Labor had dropped the ball on regional development over the past decade.Premier Roger Cook made the announcement at a Chamber of Minerals and Energy breakfast on Tuesday, where he also announced the “Seven Cities” initiative aimed at improving infrastructure and housing in the regional centres of Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Port Hedland, Broome, Geraldton and Albany.Karratha will receive an injection of GROH housing.Of the 500-plus new GROH homes, 305 would be built in Karratha and Port Hedland, 54 in Broome, 113 in Kalgoorlie, 37 in Geraldton and 26 in Albany. Bunbury will not receive any homes because its proximity to Perth means it does not have an established GROH program.Homes provided under the initiative offer subsidised rent to public servants including teachers and police to entice them to work in regional WA.AdvertisementThe new homes will be built over the next five years, with the upcoming budget including $419 million over the next four years to start the builds.Related ArticleWA news…

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