Legislative Council Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2) 54 2 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Affordable Housing Affordable Housing The Hon. J.S. LEE Legislative Council Affordable Housing The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:14): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding housing. Can the minister outline to the council how the Marshall Liberal government's affordable housing initiatives are helping South Australians get a foot in the door of home ownership and support jobs? The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK Legislative Council Minister for Human Services Affordable Housing The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:14): I thank the honourable member for her question. I am delighted to update the house in relation to the affordable housing program, which is under the auspices of the SA Housing Authority and which has a wonderful new website known as HomeSeeker SA. In our strategy we targeted the issue of affordable housing. Providing affordable housing is something that the South Australian government, through the South Australian Housing Trust or the South Australian Housing Authority, has in its heritage long been engaged in. For many people who came to South Australia the first property they may have either rented or purchased was built by the old trust. As we know, a number of the properties within that portfolio are quite dated now so we are working at building those, but we are also working on affordable housing, which is very important for first-home owners and for people who may have had relationship breakdowns and find themselves either in the private rental market or staying with friends and the like, so we think it's very important to provide opportunities for people to get their foot in the door of home ownership. In the 2019-20 budget, we provided some funding, which was part of a stimulus package, and all of those properties have been flying out the door. Our affordable homes are priced between $250,000 and $418,000. What that provides to prospective owners is that the price is capped and they don't have to compete with investors, which is something that they really value. In terms of the 71 affordable homes that were provided through the stimulus money, these were two and three-bedroom homes across the metropolitan area which were built by companies such as Urban Concept, Simonds SA, Bellrock Homes, LAMAR Group, Quattro and Rossdale Homes, to mention a few. In terms of our analysis of who purchased them, certainly all the single ladies. In terms of the ones that we knew about, the profile was that 54 were purchased by single people and of those the majority were actually women under 50, particularly in the 20 to 30 age bracket. I think that is very important. It means that, in effect, those people are now on the ladder of home ownership, which takes them out of the private rental market, so that provides an opportunity for other people to be able to rent those properties and provide some relief in the private rental market. The next round of a thousand homes, which are anticipated through the strategy, has demonstrated that as at the end of August we had already sold 19 off the plan. Again, these are being built by well-recognised South Australian builders such as Fairmont Homes, Metricon, Rivergum and Scott Salisbury. It is a win-win because the properties are purpose built so they are brand new. A lot of people, particularly those who are working full time and who are single-person households, don't have time to maintain large yards, but they are really high quality properties. That also provides a pipeline of work for the construction industry once the HomeBuilder grant ends. We are supporting industry and providing opportunities for people through this program, and it's something that we are very proud of.