South Australia has one of the highest percentages of social housing compared to the majority of states across the nation, new data shows.
Latest Report on Government Services and ABS data reveals 5.9 per cent of South Australia's total residential housing is social housing.
This is almost double Victoria's percentage of social housing stock (3 per cent), and higher than Queensland (3.4 per cent), Western Australia (3.9 per cent), New South Wales (4.8 per cent) and Tasmania (5.8 per cent).
South Australia's percentage of social housing would be even higher had Labor not used the Housing Trust as a cash cow, selling a whopping 7,500 Housing SA properties totalling $1.5 billion over 16 years.
The Marshall Liberal Government is committed to fixing a broken housing system – however we have always maintained reversing 16 years of poor governance under Labor will take time.
Minister for Human Services Michelle Lensink said the Marshall Liberal Government had a clear plan to better support our most vulnerable and empower more South Australians into affordable homeownership.
"We want to ensure social housing is available for our most vulnerable, which is why we're currently modernising our social housing system with the aim of delivering better, fairer, more efficient and transparent services to South Australians," said Minister Lensink.
"The Marshall Liberal Government has a strong, clear once-in-a-generation $550 million plan to continue to support South Australians and their housing needs.
"Our $550 million new housing and homelessness strategy will deliver a $400 million injection to build 1000 new affordable homes by 2025.
"Not only will our plan empower and support more South Australians to achieve their housing aspirations and take pressure off the housing market with 1000 new affordable homes entering the market, it's providing a steady pipeline of work for our construction and building industry.
"At its heart, our new $550 million strategy aims to help South Australians into homeownership, prevent people falling into homelessness and ensure public housing is available for our most vulnerable.
"The Marshall Liberal Govenrment has also committed record public housing maintenance funding in order to fix rundown and ageing properties left by the former Labor Government.
"Our strong, clear $550 million plan is in stark contrast to the public housing legacy that Labor left us.
"Labor say we need more social housing and yet during their 16 years in Government they sold a whopping 7,500 Housing SA properties totalling $1.5 billion.
"Labor and Nat Cook continue to constantly criticize the Government for aiming to better support our most vulnerable and yet in the last three years they have not produced one piece of housing or homelessness policy.
"We really urge Labor and Nat Cook to get behind the Marshall Liberal Government's aim of getting more South Australians into safe and stable housing – and keeping them there."
*ROGS 2021 data Table 18A.3 **ABS Dataset: Residential Dwellings: Values, Mean Price and Number by State and Territories
