Kimberley Floods: WA Government expected to use Humanihuts for Fitzroy Crossing medium-term accommodation

The WA Government is expected to announce a plan to use Australian-designed emergency shelters as a medium-term accommodation solution for residents displaced by the devastating floods in the Kimberley. According to sources, the use of Humanihuts — repurposed climate-controlled shipping container-like structures with folding insulated walls — will be announced on Friday when Minister for Community Services Sabine Winton visits the region. Manufactured in Adelaide and transported inside 20-foot shipping containers, the huts are able to draw power from on or off-grid sources and use an innovative pop-up design to transform a rectangular flat pack into a living space suitable for a family of five within five minutes. The huts have previously been used for a variety of situations around Australia, including as a COVID-19 quarantine facility in Port Augusta and Ceduna in South Australia. The move comes after, in early February, WA Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson said around 160 people remained in hotel rooms, unable to return to their flooded properties. At the time, Minister Dawson said the emergency shelter was costing “tens of thousands of dollars” and the Department of Communities was working to get residents into temporary homes while long-term solutions were sought. “There are about 160 people at this stage in hotels in Derby and in Broome and over coming weeks we’ll have temporary options in place so people can start moving out of those hotels and back into their communities wherever they may be across the Kimberley,” he said. “A range of options have been considered right across the State.” The Department of Communities was contacted for comment but did not respond.