SA Election 2018: Labor to spend $150m to build 600 new housing trust homes and provide interest free deposits to low and middle income workers

SIX hundred “old and run down” trust homes in the northern and southern suburbs will be replaced with new public housing using a major $150 million injection of taxpayer money, under a re-elected Labor Government.

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SIX hundred “old and run down” trust homes in the northern and southern suburbs will be replaced with new public housing under $150 million taxpayer-funded scheme — if Labor is re-elected on Saturday.

Premier Jay Weatherill on Monday promised to extend his Government’s 1000 homes in 1000 days pledge — which cost more than $200 million — with a further $150 million in funding for another 600 homes.

Making another big spending announcement, Mr Weatherill said voters could expect to see how Labor plans to fund its campaign cash splash on Thursday.

During the final week of the State Election campaign Mr Weatherill plans to pitch Labor’s job creation credentials through Labor’s commitment to taxpayer funded projects to boost employment numbers.

Jay Weatherill visits a public housing site on Monday. Picture: Tracey Nearmy/AAP

Mr Weatherill said the public housing initiative would support 500 jobs for brickies, carpenters, painters and others in the housing industry.

“Housing trust homes which are old and run down will now be renewed and through that process we will create 500 jobs,” he said.

Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan outlined Labor’s plans to help low to middle income earners buy their own house through new loans to be offered by HomeStart finance.

The program would allow a home buyers to access up to 25 per cent of the property values as an interest-free deposit.

When the property was sold or refinanced the owner would be required to pay back the same proportion of the new value of the property.

Mr Mullighan, however, could not say how many people Labor believed would access the loan or how it would affect the state’s debt.

“All of our campaign commitments will be accounted for by the Treasurer later this week,” he said.

Last week, the Grattan Institute released a landmark report into housing affordability in Australia which stated that shared equity schemes did little to reduce house prices.

“Shared-equity schemes have similar effects on housing markets as grants or stamp duty concessions for first home buyers,” the report stated.

“Ultimately they boost the purchasing power of potential buyers. This increases prices, given that housing supply is constrained by land-use planning rules in our largest cities.

“The biggest winners will be people who own homes already, and property developers with new homes ready to sell.”

But Mr Mullighan said SA’s comparative affordable housing showed Labor had was “getting the balance right” in assisting home buyers.

“From a rental perspective we are the third most affordable jurisdiction in the country and from a mortgage perspective we are the second most affordable,” he said.

Liberal Leader Steven Marshall said Labor could not be trusted to fix public housing issues in the state.

Policy Police

What? Labor promises $150 million to bulldoze and rebuild 600 housing trust homes.

How? To be funded from general revenue. Labor expects to sell off some land as smaller trust houses replace existing large homes, but there were no figures put on the revenue.

Pub test? Updating public housing speaks to the Labor base as it supports the most vulnerable and creates construction jobs.

The plan could, however, be seen as flogging off land, with scepticism over how much Labor would pocket out of the move.