19 April 2024
The Greens say the new Housing Minister, Nick Champion must move quickly to boost the state’s supply of social housing as new data reveals there were 15,000 South Australians on the waitlist last month (https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2024/apr/18/as-190000-households-wait-for-social-housing-application-numbers-are-only-increasing).
“It’s not enough to simply have a new Minister with a new ‘super portfolio’, the Government needs new policies as well.” said Greens Housing Spokesperson, Robert Simms MLC.
“In the middle of the worst housing crisis in generations, building more social housing must be an urgent priority for the Malinauskas Government. We urge the Minister to back the Greens proposal to require developers to allocate at least 30 per cent of new builds to social housing (with 10 per cent affordable to rent, 10 per cent rent affordable to buy and 10 per cent public or community housing).”
“The new Minister should also follow Victoria’s lead in applying a levy on vacant residential property and airbnbs, with the money raised going towards more housing. He should give serious consideration to the Greens’ proposal for a public builder to fast-track construction of social housing and fix outstanding maintenance issues.”
“We need the Government to pull every lever at their disposal to tackle this crisis and ensure that every South Australian has a roof over their head and a place to call home. While the Malinauskas Government deserves credit for building more housing over the last two years, the sad reality is that it is still well short of what is required.”
“If we don’t see a significant change of policy, many South Australians could conclude that this new ‘super portfolio’ is simply more sizzle than sausage,” Mr Simms said.