305 homes to feature in major Housing Trust revamp at Morphettville

THE State Government will redevelop an 11ha residential site at Morphettville, reducing the number of Housing Trust homes there by two thirds and relocating some tenants.

URBAN RENEWAL PICS

THE State Government will redevelop an 11ha residential site at Morphettville, reducing the number of Housing Trust homes there by two thirds and relocating some tenants.

Housing Minister Stephen Mullighan said the $44 million project, bordered by Nilpena Ave, Hendrie St, Carlisle Ave and Appleby Rd, would create much-needed jobs.

The area is home to 160 tenants living in 120 Trust homes, as well as 61 private households. Those homes will remain privately owned.

The project will begin late this year and is due for completion in 2020.

It will increase the number of properties on the site to 305, of which just 45 will be retained as the Housing Trust homes.

Thirty of the new homes will be classed as “affordable” houses, for sale to non homeowners earning less than $75,000 or couples earning less than $95,000 a year.

Housing Trust Tenants Association spokesman Tony Elmers said he would not support any loss in housing stock.

“We’ve got a shortage of public housing now,” Mr Elmers said.

“Twenty or 30 years ago people could ring up and, if they had a problem, you could get them into a Housing Trust home. Now I tell people ‘you’re wasting your time’.”

Mr Elmers said urban renewal projects carried out in other parts of Adelaide had resulted in long-term Trust tenants being relocated to the detriment of their health.

“It’s a health issue — people actually die because you’re taking them away from their network of friends and, in some cases, where they’ve lived for 40 or 50 years,” he said.

Renewal SA spokesman Mark Devine said his department was working with Trust tenants in the area to find “suitable alternative homes”.

These might be in nearby suburbs, the project area itself or other areas of tenants’ choosing, he said.

Mr Devine said the government was also considering the needs of local property owners.

“There are 61 private properties in the project area and works are being carefully planned over the five-year period to limit disruption.”

Property owners would likely end up benefiting from an increase in their property values, he said.

Mr Devine said the project was designed to “replace ageing Housing Trust homes to create better quality social housing and increase choice and affordability”.

Most houses in the project area were double units built before 1968 and they would soon start requiring “significant maintenance” if the project did not go ahead.

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