How KINRA Works
KINRA is not standard social housing. It is a community-controlled, net-zero, health-enabling, enterprise-generating platform — built around housing as its anchor, designed to create lasting benefit across every dimension of community life in Derby.
The Founding Principles
KINRA is not standard social housing. It is a community development ecosystem built around housing as its anchor — designed to generate lasting benefit across every dimension of community life.
Governed by Traditional Owners and community members through an Indigenous Corporation with genuine decision-making authority at every level — not consultative voice in someone else's project.
Solar PV and battery storage in every home, a community microgrid, and Horizon Power grid connection for energy security and Virtual Power Plant revenue. Net zero: generation equals or exceeds consumption.
Built for the Kimberley — cyclone Zone C, elevated floors, high ceilings, wide verandahs, cross-ventilation, reflective roofing, moisture-resistant and termite-resistant materials.
Community housing, affordable rental, rent-to-buy and private lots — creating a financially sustainable precinct and genuine pathways to home ownership for Aboriginal families.
Derby and Kimberley labour, local suppliers, procurement structured for small Aboriginal businesses. ILO Employment-Intensive Infrastructure Programme methodology proven across 70 countries and 50 years.
Homes designed to the space, ventilation, sanitation and water access standards that directly reduce Strep A transmission — prevention of Rheumatic Heart Disease built into every specification.
"The ILO's Local Resource-Based approach has been proven across 70 countries and 50 years. In Derby, it means local people build their own community — and gain the skills and enterprises to maintain it."
The Ecosystem
KINRA maps across six interconnected domains — each designed to reinforce the others. This is what makes KINRA more than a housing project.
Solar PV (5–8kW) and battery storage (10–15kWh) per home. Community microgrid. Horizon Power grid connection and VPP revenue. Kimberley's world-class solar resource transformed from challenge into community asset. Local employment in installation and maintenance.
Prefabricated modular construction with integrated energy systems. LRB approach: minimum 50% Aboriginal construction workforce, 100% labourer roles. Pre-apprenticeship programs ahead of the build. DAMOS Corporation as delivery partner.
Space, ventilation, sanitation and water standards preventing Strep A transmission. Adjacent to Mindaroo Foundation's early childhood health investment. Prevention built into every home, sustained across the precinct's life.
Homes with study space and functional lighting. VET pathways with North Regional TAFE Broome campus. Pre-apprenticeships in construction and renewable energy. CRC RACE research partnership with PhD scholarships for Kimberley candidates.
Construction employment (LRB). Permanent operational roles in housing management, energy maintenance, building trades. Ernesto Seroli enterprise facilitation: mapping supply chain entry points, mentoring, enterprise incubation. VPP and commercial facility revenue.
Indigenous Corporation (CATSI Act) with genuine Traditional Owner authority. Journey Group and Precinct Board of 7–10 Aboriginal community leaders. Twowayology — Indigenous knowledges embedded in design and service delivery. Reciprocity agreements on jobs and economic returns.
The Site
Derby is a town of approximately 4,000 people in the West Kimberley, serving as a service hub for a large remote catchment. The proposed precinct occupies approximately ten hectares of Crown land currently under Catholic Church jurisdiction for native purposes, adjacent to the Derby townsite.
This land was originally granted for Indigenous community use. The Liyan Foundation has secured access to this site — a rare alignment of available land, community authority and project readiness that makes the KINRA model possible now.
Development WA is engaged as the project's infrastructure development partner: the community entity owns the land; Development WA provides infrastructure development expertise (roads, water, sewer, power) under a cost-recovery arrangement.