One of the consequences of mining expansion in the Bowen Basin region of Central Queensland in Australia has been a substantial increase in demand for housing, with subsequent impacts on housing and rental markets. Those pressures are reduced to some extent by a proportion of the workforce choosing to live in other centres and commuting to workplace for block periods. The main factors influencing location choice are: housing availability and affordability, basic urban services and lifestyle of the town and the town physical attractiveness such as coastal town. Low costs housing provided by the mining company acts as an attracting factor for some miners to live in the mining town. Recommendations for three short-term and two long-term strategic policy guidelines to address housing situation and location issues are provided._x000D_
FORMAL CITATION:Akbar, D, Rolfe, J, Lockie, S and Ivanova, G, 2009. Housing stress and location choices in Bowen Basin mining communities - a case study of Moranbah, in Proceedings SDIMI 2009 - Sustainable Development Indicators in the Minerals Industry, pp 35-44 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).