SOUTH AUSTRALIA “OUR HOUSING FUTURE 2020-2030” POLICY GUIDED REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION

In 1936, South Australian Housing Trust (SAHT) was established to attract industrial development to South Australia by providing low cost affordable houses to workers and their families, this recorded tremendous success building 47% of the new residential  houses in South Australia per year until it was completely sidelined in 2006¹.

In 2021, Adelaide the capital city of South Australia and the second least affordable place to live in Australia was ranked the 13th out of 92 most unaffordable metropolitan area in the international housing market² and this is a clear indication that South Australia is currently experiencing a deep and critical housing crisis.

This essay will critically evaluate the South Australia “OUR HOUSING FUTURE 2020-2030” policy, reviewing its focus, strategies, output and the outcomes on the South Australian population, social inclusivity, industry, economy and health and recommend possible evident based strategies to help ameliorate the current situation.   

THE FOCUS OF THE POLICY

Housing is a fundamental and crucial aspect of life and well-being and every people-centered government undauntedly initiates ideas and policies to make it available, affordable and accessible. Our Housing Future 2020-2030 is a South Australian government policy with 33 intended actions under 5 key strategies to reform the housing, homelessness and support system which has suffered a huge decline recently leaving thousands of South Australians in deep housing stress and crisis, poor health conditions and heavily dependent on other government services. The policy focuses on State government’s collaboration with all housing partners to increase the supply of affordable and appropriate housing thereby reducing housing stress, providing employment opportunities, modernizing the social housing and homelessness system to foster social and community inclusiveness and generally increase the health outcome of individuals and bring population and economic boost to the state.

 THE STRATEGIES

 Our Housing Future 2020-2030 policy initial strategy focuses on creating a conducive environment welcoming to innovations and attracting new private and public investors into the housing industry through establishing leadership and governance body to coordinate all housing planning and policies in the local, state and federal level and also create planning and designing code that will provide appropriate land supply pipelines and housing diversities. This strategy through actions like adequate and appropriately located land release and cut in taxation for new houses built by investors will encourage more investors to invest in housing in South Australia.

Secondly, the policy promises to reduce housing stress by building and delivering new affordable houses to low and moderate income households, providing private rental opportunities to  low and moderate income households and helping interested new home buyers with startup loans. Data reveals that there has been a 9% increase in the construction of houses in South Australia between 2020 and 2025 which is above the national average of 2.4% ³, this indicates that this strategy is making great but gradual impact on the housing situation in South Australian.

Additionally, the policy aims at creating housing pathways to enable people to access housing and services as their needs change through supporting shared leasing arrangements, improving service delivery by incorporating lived experience and by bridging the gap between social housing, private rental and home ownership through implementation of moderate income rent reforms  and removing policy disincentives to work to encourage participation and independence and also tackling housing challenges faced by Aboriginals through an Aboriginal Housing Scheme.The 2021 census showed the rate of homelessness among Aboriginals in South Australia as 327 people per 10,000⁴ and various data indicates overcrowding, less housing affordability, low housing quality and quantity and less culturally appropriate housing services among the Aboriginals.

Futhermore, this policy intends to prevent and reduce homelessness through targeted and tailored responses that include equipping more people across all ages, social status and cultural backgrounds with the skills, resilience and support to live independently, productively and to prevent them from falling into housing crisis  through skills empowerment and employment programs supported by government agencies, not-for-profit organizations and private companies and agencies and also initiate and implement the Safety First Approach and Housing First Approach for victims of family and domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse and racial and cultural differences.

Finally, the policy pledges to  modernize the social housing system by reforming its operations through reviewing eligibility and allocations policy, implementing points-based assessment and choice-based letting and setting clear mutual obligations for successful tenancies and introducing a strategic asset management that takes care of asset disposal and investment. This will make sure that there is a transition in housing occupancy  where people are able to access and afford housing according to their present needs and situation and not stock to  homelessness and living in an unwanted and uncomfortable space.

THE OUTPUT

 In an attempt to realize the “Our House Future 2020-2030” policy, the South Australian government has revealed a housing roadmap with helpful  and timely initiatives.  This roadmap is intended to tackle the housing crisis and reduce and equally prevent homelessness and housing stress among South Australians. The housing roadmap adopts the following measures;

• Bringing back the South Australia Housing Trust to provide a broader range of services to the community in order to get more people into affordable and public homes.
• The release of the largest land in the history of South Australia for more than 25,000  residential housing developments.
• The construction of infrastructures that will attract  investors and encourage partnership and collaboration in building more safe, secure and affordable houses in the community.
• The abolition of stamp duty for new home buyers  with the bid to encourage more people to develop interest to own their own homes.
• Investing significantly in job creation for South Australians and also in trainings, including the construction industry to make more people  financially buoyant to live, rent and buy their chosen style of  homes.
• Introduced a ban on rental bidding to make private rental prices fairer for all South Australians especially the low and moderate income households.
• Changed the Private Rental Assistance eligibility criteria by increasing the maximum weekly rental limit  from $450 to $600, increasing the households cash assets limit from $5000 to $62,150, increasing the rent in advance payment to 2 weeks and also increasing the availability of rent in arrears payment. These changes will create easier access for eligible people living in South Australia to access financial support to enable them meet their housing needs and combat housing stress.
• Currently 1025 new homes are being built under the Public Housing Improvement Program (PHIP) and under the additional housing program, and as ongoing work, 350 houses are upgraded while 3000 are being maintained under PHIP, it is projected that 1000 new affordable homes already under construction would be completed and available for purchase by the year 2026⁵. This move will attract young, talented and working class individuals of all ages and status to South Australia as housing supply will increase to meet housing demand hence increasing the population and economy of South Australia.

THE OUTCOME

• The construction of houses in South Australia in the first 5 years of this policy has witnessed tremendous increase and South Australia therefore recorded  a massive but steady growth in the construction of residential houses, apartments and units exceeding other states of Australia⁶.
• More than 50500 households have been supported for housing by South Australian government through private rental assistance, 4300 households supported through housing first approach by providing emergency accommodation⁷to them, there is an increase in the supply of social housing due to government’s partnerships with community housing providers and the HomeseekerSA program managed by SAHT has greatly provided listings of affordable homes available for purchase, the buying progress⁸ and financial education on budgeting and savings to low and moderate income households.  
• Population estimates for  South Australia between the period of March 2023 and March 2024  was rated as 1.5%  increase with net oversea migration of 26,000 persons out of the total migrants of 27,300⁹and majority of these migrants are students who are not eligible to access private rental assistance  thus experiencing a lot of housing stress and poor health outcome.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• International education is South Australia’s largest export, calculated to worth $3.2 billion in 2023/24 and had over 54,000 student enrollments¹⁰into courses like IT, health, engineering, management, commerce and hospitality which are very beneficial to the future of South Australia. International students also promote the state globally by contributing immensely to its cultural and social fabrics while 37% of these students engage in unpaid voluntary work across South Australia. Considering that rent constitutes about 30% of an oversea student expenditure in South Australia, granting the oversea students private rental assistance eligibility will   improve the health outcome of the students and foster a massive increase in the number of students coming to the State to positively effect its economic growth.
• The cash asset limit for household’s eligibility to private rental assistance should be reduced to $20,000. This will ensure that the annual available funds for this assistance is actually used for the targeted population of low and moderate income households hence truly solving the housing stress of more households in this categories and also helping those who have cash asset above the limit to practise financial integrity through appropriate budgeting.
• South Australian government should consider developing more high-rise buildings to manage land economically by having more number of flats and apartments in a small portion of land and increasing communal activities among households, also reducing the amount of harmful gas released into the atmosphere  through fuel combustion while traveling long distances for jobs, groceries, education or family.
• More aggressive and intentional housing support and eligibility should be granted to the Aboriginal households by reducing the percentage of their annual income to be deposited to purchase an affordable home to 20% instead of 30% for the rest of Australians and also lower their expected weekly income to qualify to access social housing and private rental. This will reduce homelessness and overcrowding in most Aboriginal homes and thus improve their general health outcome.
• Following the evident long time successes of SAHT, it should be re-established as an independent statutory body with adequate proper funding and with the assignment to deliver 15000 properly located,secured, accessible and quality public homes annually.

CONCLUSION

The South Australian government through the “OUR HOUSING FUTURE 2020-2030” Policy and the strategic roadmaps and approaches employed have done greatly in coping homelessness, providing social housing and affordable homes to thousands of households but a lot of works still need to be put in to make housing more  accessible and affordable to low income households, students, Aged, Aboriginals and to also make it socially inclusive for all and culturally encouraging to the Aboriginals.