YOUTH HOUSING

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:09): My question is to the Minister for Youth and the Minister for Social Housing. Minister, will you tell the council about the newly opened HYPA housing properties for homeless youth?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (15:09): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. Yesterday I was delighted to represent the Premier at the launch of the Service to Youth Council's Helping Young People Achieve (or HYPA) housing development. The launch of the new development provides a total of 32 dwellings over three separate sites in the northern and western suburbs for young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

These sites will be managed by the Service to Youth Council, which I must say has been a leader over several years in finding solutions to tackle youth homelessness. SYC's model provides housing for young people from 17 to 25 years of age who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Importantly, it provides a stepping stone for young people who are finding it difficult to access and afford rental accommodation. The initiative also supports young people to develop their independence and pursue their personal, vocational and educational goals with the help of persistent case management.

One of the main features of this program, which is making a big difference, is the opportunity to have a caretaker on site, not just as a caretaker but as a positive role model for the young residents. The caretaker helps them maintain their apartments, and a support worker manages their educational, training and employment goals. The 32 dwellings are split across three sites located at Smithfield, Munno Para West and Mansfield Park and are in addition to the seven units currently operated by SYC in the CBD.

The project began, I understand, when the former minister for housing (Hon. Jennifer Rankin) wrote to the commonwealth in 2009 seeking funding under a program called A Place to Call Home for a number of projects, including this one, to be developed in partnership with SYC. With her request being successful and with the support of the South Australian government's Affordable Housing Innovation Fund and the SYC, this dream became a reality.

Since HYPA's housing inception in 1995, over 70 per cent of the young tenants in the program have moved on to stable housing after leaving the SYC accommodation and, even more impressively, of those who have left the guidance of this program, 79 per cent are successfully engaged in the workforce. As you will probably agree, this is a fantastic outcome.

These sorts of partnerships and innovation are crucial in tackling homelessness and are an excellent example of what can be achieved when state, commonwealth and local governments and not-for-profit organisations work together with private developers for a common goal. The SYC is to be congratulated on its ongoing commitment to improving the quality of housing outcomes for its tenants, and I look forward to an enduring and productive relationship between it and the state government for many years into the future.