Tamworth faces growth dilemma as housing struggles to meet demand

The growth of industry in the region has led demand for workers to skyrocket, causing Tamworth to suffer from the weight of its own success as the regional housing shortage continues to bite.

But where some see crisis others see opportunity, Productivity Bootcamp Founder Paul Breen said.

Since Productivity Bootcamp got the green light in May, the company has received support from local employers in the region keen on tapping into the next generation of workers to help plug gaps in the workforce.

"I believe Tamworth is going to be the engine room of Australia, and this is our chance to educate young people and excite them about their 'small little town' turning into a massive hub," Mr Breen said.

After a regional workforce forum in Tamworth's town hall, Mr Breen said he's confident in both government-led and industry-led solutions to the housing shortage, including re-zoning Crown lands for development and building temporary 'tiny house' accommodation for industry workers on short-term contracts.

"As the people keep coming in, councils will speed up to match. They're not going to let this opportunity for growth pass them by," Mr Breen said.

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Industry insiders say the best solution to both housing and workforce shortages is to simply increase the supply of houses.

Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) says there has been progress on this front, approving 449 development applications in the 2022/23 financial year, worth more than $140 million in total.

The number and value of applications fell slightly from last year's record-smashing pace, but are still enough to land Tamworth a top spot as one of the fastest-growing regional areas in NSW.

In addition, TRC is re-zoning several lots to open up more space for residential developments, releasing a total of 406 lots over the last 12 months.

But TRC's manager of future communities Andrew Spicer previously told the Leader rezoning a paddock into a residential area is a slow process, so it may take time for the benefits of these programs to come through.

"Some of them have gotten through, but they now need further planning before lodging the first development application," Mr Spicer said.

Instead of tiny houses, Mr Spicer says he encourages developers to focus on increasing the population density of the city through converting stand-alone housing into units and shop-top housing.

"That's where we're pushing a lot of planning provisions and encouraging developers to look at," he said.

Meanwhile, Productivity Bootcamp will be trying to make sure Tamworth's industry pipeline doesn't lose steam, the company's founder said.

"Tamworth has a massive pipeline of infrastructure ahead of itself, but now we need to build the people pipeline to match it," Mr Breen said.

He says he wants to build an industry hub in the city designed to empower young people to become the "contractors and subcontractors of tomorrow" by allowing them to try as many different industries as possible, seeing how each one complements and interacts with the other.

"The future workforce I see is going to work together. The carpenters will work with electricians, the electricians will work with the plumbers, the bricklayers, the welders, the renewable energy, and so on," Mr Breen said.

He also said he expects the jobs and industry boom to continue to attract more workers from outside sources.

The boom has helped Tamworth region's population growth recover from its COVID-induced slump, rebounding up to 1.27 per cent - or 800 new residents last year.

However, even the rebound will need a boost if the region hopes to reach TRC's population goal of 100,000 people by 2041.

Though even if that goal isn't met, there's a bright side to steady, consistent growth, Mr Spicer said.

"There's talk of speeding things up, but that can't be at the cost of the community ... people need to be able to have a reasonable say in what's going to happen," he said.

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