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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-07-22 Daily Xml
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Affordable Housing

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (15:11): Supplementary arising from the answer: can the minister outline—and I think was in the order of $42 million of money for these projects—if that is new money that had not been previously allocated or if that is merely running down the South Australian Housing Trust cash balance?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:12): I think I might have answered some questions in relation to this from the Hon. Ms Scriven from one of our sessions last year. What the Treasurer very generously did in the last budget for the South Australian Housing Authority was to provide a large up-front grant, which means that the South Australian Housing Authority has significant cash on its balance sheet which it's actually able to use as working capital.

The fantastic thing about these particular programs is that homes are built and the contracts are made out to, obviously, private contractors who have the specifications to ensure that they meet a particular price point. Once those homes are sold, the surplus returns to the Housing Authority and they can do more building. So it is a fantastic program in terms of using the funds of the Housing Authority in a very smart fashion, in contrast, I might add, to the way the Labor Party treated the South Australian Housing Authority. It ran down its cash reserves every time it wanted some money, cut the maintenance budget and sold off Housing Trust properties.

This government is very serious about assisting people who are in those price brackets to get their dream of owning a home, and also refurbishing a number of our run-down properties that need more than a lick of paint and have been in a run-down state for decades.

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