Head Start Homes Helps Remote Burketown Locals Enter Into Homeownership
We are proud to again be featured in Westpac Wire on how together we are helping the remote community of Burketown in Queensland, turn the dream of homeownership into a reality.
Although the housing crisis can be felt anywhere in Australia, it often hits the hardest in very remote locations, like Burketown, where the nearest big shopping facilities and bank branch are hours away.
“It makes it harder here because of our remoteness – we’re in the middle of a desert, surrounded by four rivers and salt flats,” says Dan McKinlay, Burketown-based chief executive of the Burke Shire Council.
Head Start Homes along with the Burke Shire Council and Westpac have devised a plan which will allow the Burke Shire Council locals to have an opportunity to purchase their very own home. The unique plan “will see an initial nine of the region’s 21 council-owned homes sold at a 40 per cent discount to the council staff who rent them, deposit-free and without the need for mortgage insurance. The council will put the proceeds towards building more homes.”
“We never thought this would happen,” says 27-year-old Madison who along with her sister, Jordan, was one of the first to successfully apply to buy a Burketown home that she rented from the council.
“We didn’t grow up seeing our people owning their own homes and it just goes to show that anything is possible if you work for it.” says 27-year-old Madison.
For the full article check out the story on the Westpac Wire
