But both promises fall well short of xjmtzywSACOSS’s pre-election call for a $1.4 billion investment over four years to increase public housing stock, equivalent to a similar $5.3 billion social housing package from the Victorian Government.
SACOSS CEO Ross Womersley said whoever wins the state election next week needs to focus more on rental affordability.
“On average, renters earn less than homeowners and are more likely to struggle with housing affordability, and in our assessment, there is nowhere near enough help coming from the major parties’ election promises,” he said.
“The Liberal Party can claim credit for stopping the long-term decline in the stock of public housing, and helped to get some people into home ownership. But there’s no plan there to build more public housing.
“Labor has conceded it made the mistake of disinvesting in public housing previously and has come to the election finally promising some critical new real investment.
“But frankly, given the size of the crisis we face we will need much, much more to shorten the waiting list and have an impact on supply in the broader rental market.”
The Real Estate Institute of Australia’s Real Estate Market Facts report for the September quarter last year found Adelaide has the least accessible rental market of any Australian capital city, with a “rented dwelling vacancy rate” of just 0.6 per cent.
From December 2020 to December 2021, rents in South Australia increased by 7.2 per cent – more than double the general inflation rate – according to SACOSS’s most recent cost of living report.
