Cloncurry Shire Council has tasted success with a building project to boost quality housing stock and has its sights set on opening up about 100 residential blocks for further development.

Ernest Henry mine owner Evolution Mining has taken 10-year leases on four of nine executive homes being built in Cloncurry in a $10 million council project.

Related: Cloncurry boosts housing stock for corporate appeal

The family-size homes are due for completion in June, according to Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell, who said the council was in talks with another mining company for the long-term lease of a further four.

“The other one we’re holding back because we see a need predominantly for a government department that’s actively recruiting for staff … where the state government housing stock hasn’t kept up with expectations of the modern-day employee … we want to be able to use it to assist them in their recruitment,” he said.

Cr Campbell said the council had taken on the housing project as the town was struggling to get a developer or individual company committed to doing it themselves.

Another measure to address housing needs comes under its Urban Renewal Policy, offering incentives for people to buy older homes in town and rebuild on those lots.

“We’re working on some low-hanging fruit for want of a better term, with one or two blocks here and there that are easy to service,” Cr Campbell said.

“And then the major piece is up to about a hundred new house blocks that we’re moving through the design and planning stage now.”

He said the council was looking at two suitable residential development sites and weighing up which to prioritise One is west of Railway St and the other near Douglas St, Cloncurry.

“There are some fringe blocks that would be able to be developed pretty quickly, I’m thinking within months. And the broader area is probably a 12-month process to get it constructed.”

Cr Campbell said the council was also working to secure more state land so that it had a land bank ready to go.

Related: True North study confirms ‘robust, sustainable’ operation

Cloncurry Shire Council’s housing push comes in the face of high existing demand and anticipated growth as work on CopperString takes off and more local mining ventures like Harmony’s Eva copper project and True North Copper’s Cloncurry mining operations come online.

“We need to have the available land. So when that fuse is lit and somebody shows interest, we can say, ‘yes, there you go. There’s the land’,” Cr Campbell said.

“The interest, I think, is only going to grow. Talking to a real estate agent last week, she had no rentals on her books and several calls a day.

“That’s people looking to move to town for their job, looking for a house. So the demand is already outstripping the supply and of course that means that the rents will start to rise a bit, which then makes the numbers add up on why people should actually invest in some new stock.”