NATIONAL RENTAL AFFORDABILITY SCHEME

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (14:25): My question is for the Minister for Social Housing. Can the minister inform the house about South Australia's participation in the National Rental Affordability Scheme?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (14:26): I thank the member for his important question, as affordable housing is a key plank of this government. Mr Speaker, the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) is a long-term commitment between the commonwealth and the state governments to increase investment in affordable rental housing and reduce the rental stress on low to moderate income households.

I was pleased to be alongside the Premier today when he announced South Australia's continued participation in this important scheme. The upcoming round of NRAS incentives is split into two parts and includes properties which are 'shovel ready', which means construction will begin soon and will be aiming to have properties ready for rent before December 2014. The second part, which is round five of the current rounds, aims to have properties built and ready to rent in 2015-16.

The state government has participated in all of the previous rounds of NRAS and will continue its commitment in upcoming rounds which will see a further 500 new homes constructed across South Australia. Two hundred properties are planned to be constructed under the 'shovel ready' scheme and a further 300 under the second part of this upcoming round. Included in the first round will be 90 properties designed and built specifically for people with a disability. The construction of these properties will assist in stimulating the South Australian construction industry with these 'shovel ready' projects beginning in the next few months.

To date, more than 1,500 properties have been built and tenanted in South Australia which provide more than 2,000 people on low to moderate incomes with a rental which is at least 20 per cent below the current market rate of rental for the property. Those 2,000-plus South Australians on low incomes renting properties under the NRAS scheme are saving between $3,000 to $4,000 each year on their rent under this scheme, which reduces their cost of living pressures.

Prior to this round, South Australia has received a total of 3,791 incentives, meaning that another 2,000-plus houses are currently being built which are expected to be ready for rental before the end of June 2014. This is important because the recently conducted rental affordability snapshot conducted by Anglicare, which surveyed more than 56,400 private rental properties nationally, found that less than 1 per cent were affordable for people on Newstart allowances, parenting payments, and disability and aged pensions.

By providing incentives for investors, not-for-profit organisations and non-government agencies build new affordable rental properties that will help correct the balance of affordable private rental properties for those households experiencing housing stress. This government's participation in this scheme demonstrates our firm commitment to making South Australia a more affordable place to live.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I warn the deputy leader for the first time and alert her to my not being receptive to a Chris Huhne-style transfer of demerit points or warnings in this question time, and I also warn the member for Schubert. Now I call the leader.