Housing Trust eligibility thresholds for assets will be slashed to one-tenth current levels

Experts say changes to housing trust eligibility will do little to solve the state’s housing crisis.

A move to slash the value of assets allowed for people on the public housing waiting list has been dismissed by experts as “a bit of fluff”.

New state government rules will see means test thresholds for public housing dramatically cut.

They will ban singles with assets greater than $48,250, down from $482,500. The limit for couples drops to $61,600, down from $616,600.

The changes will disqualify about 800 people from the current waiting list of 17,294.

The new rules – which bring SA into line with other states – do not apply to current tenants.

But experts have dismissed the reforms, saying they will do little to solve the state’s housing crisis. Housing Trust Tenants Association said the changes were a “bit of fluff”.

“It is just the government saying they are trying to do something about the waiting list,’’ association spokeswoman Julie Macdonald said.

“The 800 people would not be on the most urgent category-one list anyway so they won’t get into a home.”

Opposition housing spokeswoman Nat Cook said the changes were designed to paint an inaccurate picture of wealthy Housing SA tenants.

She said they would not result in more people moving into public housing.

South Australian Council of Social Services spokesman Ross Womersley said the changes would mean very little because people with significant assets were not considered urgent enough to be housed.

“I don’t know the last time, if ever, someone with those assets (the former limits) was allocated public housing,” he said.

But the changes were welcomed on social media, with many saying couples and singles with such large amounts could afford to buy their own homes. “About time,” reader Dorothy Trueman wrote on The Advertiser Facebook page.

“This will make room for those who are genuinely financially disadvantaged.”

A Housing Trust home near the Hove Crossing in Adelaide. Picture: Keryn Stevens

The biggest change to South Australia’s beleaguered public housing system in a generation will ban many couples and singles who have assets from being Housing Trust tenants.

Asset thresholds will be slashed to just one-tenth current levels – single people with assets of $482,500 are currently eligible for public housing but this will be cut to $48,250, while the asset limit for couples will be cut from $616,000 to $61,600.

Housing Minister Michelle Lensink last year foreshadowed in The Advertiser that the generous thresholds for Housing Trust and welfare housing would be reviewed.

But is has now been revealed they will almost be wiped out – a change which would apply retrospectively to the current waiting list, unless those waiting have special needs.

It’s estimated that about 800 people currently on the waiting list of 17,294 will no longer qualify for public housing when the time comes for them to be assessed.

However, current tenants who exceed the new levels will not be evicted.

The new threshold of slightly more than a family SUV, which Ms Lensink said was a “drastic reduction”, will shock many in the welfare sector.

“The new assets limits allow people to own a car and have some savings in the bank and/or modest assets and still be eligible for social housing,” Ms Lensink said.

South Australia’s Housing Trust stock has dwindled for decades and suffered under the burden of waiting lists of more than 20,000 people.

The means testing applies to the current stock of 33,886 Housing Trust homes and 11,622 community homes, managed by the welfare sector but with government funding.

There will also be cuts to the maximum income allowed for singles and couples who are accepted.

Maximum single household income to qualify will be cut from $1023.36 per week to $715.05 per week or a couple’s household income from $1,338.24 per week to $1112.30 per week.

Households with children will have a higher income limit of up to $1747.90 per week.

Tenants will continue to pay 25 per cent of their income in rent, but the more well off will have this gradually increased to 30 per cent under reforms announced in the state budget.

Ms Lensink said from August 25 the caps would be made clear on application documents, and those on the waiting list over the caps would be disqualified when their turn came.

“Social housing should be a safety net for our most vulnerable and that’s exactly why we are drastically reducing income and asset social housing eligibility criteria,” she said.

“The old, overly generous social housing eligibility criteria means we were not targeting our services to those most in need.

“Previously, social housing customers could have up to $616,000 in assets and most South Australians would agree this is far too much and something needed to change.

“These reforms bring South Australia into line with the rest of the nation and any change to eligibility criteria will only affect new customers. Tenants already in social housing will not be affected.”

NSW does not have an asset test, but in Tasmania the tenant can own only the equivalent of $35,000 in assets, in the ACT $40,000, NT $70,142, WA $38,400, Victoria $33,844 and Queensland $116,375.

Special relaxation of the limits will be considered for people if they have an urgent or high housing need, such as they are suffering from domestic and family violence, have a disability or are older people on fixed incomes.

Opposition housing spokeswoman Nat Cook said the change wouldn’t “build one extra house or stop one person from sleeping on the streets”.

“Instead of wasting precious resources tinkering with the waiting list, the government should be focused on people in crisis and rough sleepers,” she said.