Housing Affordability

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:13): Supplementary to the minister: according to Shelter SA, there are more than 500 tenantable Housing SA properties currently vacant. Can the minister explain whether they will go to those on waiting lists, or are they earmarked for sale?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:14): I would need to double-check those figures. There are a range of reasons why housing can be vacant. As I alluded to in an earlier question, we inherited a system, in terms of our public and community housing sector, which was really in quite a mess. I think there were a lot of unknowns about the state, condition and perhaps even the locations of some of those properties, so we have undertaken to ensure that we have a much better picture of our properties. As part of that as well, we are improving getting properties back into the system, if you like.

There are a range of reasons why they can be vacant. Some of them may be for sale, some of them are because there are repairs being done, and for some the tenants left and they need to be cleaned and painted and so forth. I would need to double-check those figures. They don't sound quite correct, but I will double-check and attempt to get a figure for the number of vacant properties. There are, generally, fair reasons why there are properties which appear to be vacant, but I think it is fair to say we have been doing a much better job at getting them back into the system so that we can house people.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: It's true.