![ALL THE COMFORTS: The new Tindal RAAF Base workers' hostel includes a swimming pool. ALL THE COMFORTS: The new Tindal RAAF Base workers' hostel includes a swimming pool.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/39XqhrgY6riNnQBs6VEtc8R/7764392e-39cd-43d2-a3f7-b423a767eca3.jpg/r0_199_3888_2394_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Three new sets of workers hostels are being built due to the lack of “available accommodation”.
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There are a lot of houses available for sale or rent in Katherine but real estate agents say workers just want a bed and don't plan to stay.
This is the reality of the drive-in, drive-out workforce, mostly involved in the $500m upgrade of the Tindal RAAF Base.
Tindal contractor, NT Energy wants to build a workers’ hostel at the back of the Beagle Motel.
Defence Department contractor LendLease has built a large hostel at the Tindal RAAF Base for more than 120 workers, complete with a swimming pool.
Another big employer has been forced to invest in a hostel to house its workers as “affordable short term accommodation in Katherine is often limited and overbooked”.
Horticulture company Seven Fields Pty Ltd plans to build eight accommodation units for seasonal workers, mainly backpackers, next to their mango packing shed in Gillard Crescent.
Elders Real Estate principal sales specialist Alison Ross said when you look up Katherine rental properties online there are more than 50 vacancies.
“There are plenty of rental options in Katherine but they may not be the types of property they are looking for,” Ms Ross said.
“Mango workers are seasonal so they only need accommodation for three or four months they do not want to sign a 12 month lease,”
“If you are renting a house there are things you need to maintain like the garden, pool and fences.
“The workers are probably working 12 hour shifts and are looking for more of a dorm style accommodation where it is just a bed in a room, and even cooking and cleaning is looked after. They don’t need to worry about who will mow the lawn or clean the toilet.
Knotts Crossing duty manager Megan Oldman said there are times during the year when you would be hard pressed to find a bed in town.
“Since the end of May, beginning of June and even in February we have been 100 per cent booked out,” Ms Oldman said.
“It is a combination of workers, corporate clients, tourists and coach tours, but there have definitely been nights when we have turned 20 people away because we have been full. We have people stay from anywhere between a night and six months plus.
“There have been times when everyone in town has been booked out so we have to suggest to people they stay in Pine Creek or Mataranka, there would definitely be people sometimes stuck with nowhere to stay.”
Beagle Motor Inn manager Donna Wiggins said companies often house their workers in motels.
“Annually about 45 per cent of our guests are workers, we always have a lot of workers staying with us,” Ms Wiggins said.
“We often have people calling up wanting short term accommodation, which is up to about a month, because it is too expensive at a nightly rate.
“When a company puts in a tender at Tindal, that will usually include the cost of food and accommodation.”
Katherine Motel manager Danny Johansen said his motel services some workers for an extended period of time.
“Some of them stay for a month or two,” Mr Johansen said.
“We have been busy for the last couple of months the dry season is the good season, from June till about mid August.”
Planning consultants Moonbeam Design said NT Energy was building its own hostel because it “needs somewhere to house” their workers. It was not stated how many workers are proposed to be housed in Katherine.
The proposal is for three demountables to be located on the vacant block for five years.
“My client envisages that in five years the block will be developed into something which more suits its location and zone,” the consultants said
Seven Fields said the use of its hostel would be limited to the times of the seasonal use of its packing shed.
“To secure the required workforce for consistent operation at peak times, Seven Fields is required to offer reliable temporary accommodation options to the predominantly transient fruit picking staff, which often has limited transport options, as affordable short term accommodation is often limited and overbooked.”