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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-31 Daily Xml
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Public Housing

Mrs PEARCE (King) (15:01): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. Can the minister update the house on the Malinauskas Labor government's investment in public housing?

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (15:02): I thank the member for her question. Labor does recognise the challenges in our housing market. These pressures are felt most by people who don't have the resources to buy a home or rent in the private market. That's why our investment of $232.7 million in additional public housing from 2022-26 is so important.

We committed $177.5 million before the election and then, working with the Treasurer and other members of our team, we have boosted this again at the Mid-Year Budget Review by a further $55.2 million. This funding is supporting the construction of 564 additional new homes, upgrading the 350 vacant properties and doing extra maintenance on a further 3,000 homes. Despite the ongoing challenges in the building and construction sector, we have got on with the job of delivering new and upgraded homes.

I was thrilled to announce the first tenders linked to our election commitment last year. These were for 10 homes in Mount Gambier. Work is well underway with these, and some are so very close to completion this next month and also in August. As of today, progress linked to our election commitment includes 81 homes complete or under construction, 103 new homes with tenders that are just being awarded now and another 83 homes about to be released for tender very soon.

I was honoured to join our Premier earlier this month. He has a deep commitment and family connection to public housing. We visited the first home completed from this funding from our election commitment. This home will provide a modern, safe and affordable place to call home for a family who desperately needed it.

The current tranche of construction is spreading across the metropolitan area plus regional areas, including Mount Barker, Mount Gambier, Murray Bridge, Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Renmark, Whyalla and Willaston. We are in the process of planning and selecting the locations for another 170 homes that will complete our commitment to the extra 564 homes. This will deliver the first proper increase to public housing in a generation.

Public housing has diminished. In 29 of the last 30 years, the last time that public housing increased under a Liberal government was in 1982. In fact, the only time in recent memory was in 2014, under then Minister Zoe Bettison in the Weatherill government. The Malinauskas Labor government is turning this around. We will see hundreds of extra new homes, real growth in public housing and less sales during this term of government.

The SA Housing Authority's ongoing construction programs, outside of our additional funding, will also build another 137 new homes. There are 30 homes recently that have been tendered for under a renewal project in Blair Athol. Our election commitment also includes the upgrades to 350 otherwise vacant properties that needed significant pieces of work to make them homes again for people in need. I am very pleased to advise the house that 51 are complete, with around 40 of them already tenanted. Another 30 have works underway, and we have 96 scheduled in each of the next two years, with the final 77 scheduled in 2025-26 to complete the delivery of our election commitment.

These homes would have continued to sit empty if not for this additional money. These average upgrades are around $63,000 per unit for major works like new kitchens and new bathrooms—hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding.

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