Pre-manufactured homes that can be built in just 12 weeks are being pitched to be part of the solution to affordability issues in regional Queensland.
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The factory-built, transportable homes can be trucked across the state and connected to utilities and will initially house government employees such as police, nurses and teachers.
The prototypes are expected to be finished in June and it's hoped they will free up other housing options as rental inflation bites across the state, premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says.
"One of the biggest costs to the Queensland government is actually building remote and regional housing," she said at the factory opening in Brisbane on Monday.
"By prefabricating it here...with our apprentices and tradies, this is a good win for locals and a good win for the Queensland economy."
Ms Palaszczuk's comments come ahead of Tuesday's follow-up meeting to the housing crisis summit held last November amid talk of limiting rent increases from once every six months to once a year.
However, the impact of previously announced policies is unclear.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles could not say how many granny flats had been rented out after planning rules were changed to allow secondary dwellings on the open market last year.
"We don't collect that data at a statewide level. Some local governments will have access to some of that data," he said.
"We never said that granny flats were all of the solution, just that it was one small thing that we could do that would help ease the supply problem."
Ms Palaszczuk also wasn't sure how many people had been helped by an extra $10 million announced for emergency accommodation, telling reporters to ask the organisations who got the funding.
The prefab factory could prepare house frames, kitchens and bathrooms ahead of time and homes that usually take a year to build are done in 12 weeks, Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni said.
"On top of that, we're able to deliver these homes 20 per cent cheaper and that's just getting started. We expect that we'll be able to deliver them more quickly and more cheaply as we scale up," he said.
Australian Associated Press
