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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-31 Daily Xml
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Affordable Housing

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (14:39): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding housing. Can the minister please provide an update on the progress of the Marshall Liberal government's affordable housing program?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:39): I thank the honourable member for her question and for her interest in this area. The affordable housing program has been incorporated into the government's new HomeSeeker website, which, to use the parlance of the Treasurer, is going gangbusters. We launched the one-stop shop for South Australians to gain access to information about affordable homes, both in the purchase option, which is through the state government-run program, and also some very useful information to assist people in terms of affordable rental and ways that they can assist themselves to get their foot into the door in this important area.

Having launched it on 27 February, the advice that I had as at 15 March, which is a little bit out of date—so the numbers I am sure have grown since then—is that we have had over 5,300 site visits and registrations for updates from 618 households or individuals, which indicates that this is a very important area that people are interested in.

As I have stated here many times previously, we have been aware that there is particular demand in that market that is unmet and therefore we are very interested in ensuring that the build and development market in South Australia is aware that there is a large number of people in that cohort, whether they are key workers, first-home buyers; they may well be people whose relationships have broken up and therefore they are seeking to re-get themselves into that market.

In terms of our own first 71 affordable homes, which were part of a stimulus from the 2019-20 state budget, we had committed to build 100 new homes, 71 of which were to be sold at the affordable price bracket, which is up to $365,000 or if the home has features which will assist people with their ongoing living costs, such as energy efficiency or location, such as the new Nightingale development at Bowden, which doesn't have car parking spaces but is right next to the railway line. Those homes have all proven to be extremely popular.

I had the pleasure on the weekend of visiting one of our new—well, not a tenant but somebody who purchased one of these homes. His name is Ben, and he had been living in community housing in a disability service provider previously. He has been able to purchase his own home at the age of 26, and he is very proud of that fact.

The locations are broad. They include Klemzig, Taperoo, Mount Barker, South Plympton, Kidman Park, Findon, Edwardstown, Mitchell Park, Elizabeth Park, Devon Park, Morphettville, Woodville Gardens and Blair Athol. Our intention is to continue this program through our strategy, and we look forward to a number of South Australians being able to achieve their dream of owning their own home.

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