Question Time

Social Housing

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:51): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding social housing. Can the minister please provide an update to the council on the Marshall Liberal government's commitment to modernise our social housing system?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:51): I thank the honourable member for her question and for her interest in this area, elements of which I have spoken about in this place in relation to some of the income and asset limits for people to register for social and public housing, which are under review.

Social housing includes public housing, which is the South Australian Housing Authority or South Australian Housing Trust properties, of which there are some 34,000. In addition to that there are 11,000 in the community sector, which are either under lease or ownership of a range of non-government organisations. The policies are usually very similar across the sector so these reforms are being considered in conjunction with the community housing sector so that we can improve services for our customers and make the system easier for people to navigate.

I think I might have referred to this in this place before in terms of the single housing register. At the moment, people need to register, if they are interested in public housing or community housing, through SAHA for that system and also with each of the community housing providers that they may wish to express an interest in, which have separate criteria, so bringing those together will enable that one single process for our customers.

In terms of the Housing Authority, we are also moving to an electronic system so that customers can actually look at all their accounts online. At the moment they can't do their own application online. They will have a system, which is like a bank account, where they can log on and check where they are all at, rather than having to use a manual system, either phoning the Housing Authority call centre or going into one of the sites.

We also will be establishing a customer charter, which means that it will be clear, particularly for people who are new customers, what the rules are, which broadly are to please pay your rent on time, don't disturb your neighbours and keep your property tidy. This will clarify things, which is more targeted at people who may have a tendency for antisocial behaviour.

We are going to rationalise the income and asset limits. For those people who have relatively high incomes and significant assets who are on the category 3 list, it creates unrealistic expectations for that group of people that they may, if they continue to wait long enough, receive a social housing officer and it actually can exist as a barrier for that particular cohort to consider alternative options. We are interested in providing a more transparent offering to our clients, working in conjunction with the community housing sector, so that there is greater clarity going forward.