New ‘first in, best dressed’ policy to cut down Housing Trust home rejections

Public housing will move to a “first in, best dressed” system that’s been shown to cut down on fussy tenants, with one in three SA properties currently getting knocked back.

Public housing will be thrown open to a “first in, best dressed” system of open inspections, after the state government lost patience with fussy prospective tenants refusing housing offers.

About one in three offers in 2020/21 were rejected by people on the Housing Trust waiting list. Housing Minister Michelle Lensink flagged an open house system similar to the private rental sector.

“The new public housing allocation policy is part of a broader push to improve this (tenanting) process, by allowing multiple potential tenant households to consider a property at the same time,’’ she said.

“It is expected that this will reduce turnaround times between tenancies.

“It’s a ‘first in, best dressed policy’, meaning specific properties will be offered to multiple public housing applicants who have up to 48 hours (after an open house) to … decide if they will accept it.”

About one third of Housing Trust offers are rejected.

Until now, the Housing Trust has used a time-consuming system of progressing an offer from one applicant to the next, until one accepts.

This gives customers the luxury of rejecting an offer in the expectation that the Trust will offer a better house.

Of the 4403 offers made in 2020/21, 1312 were rejected, causing long delays which the Trust believes can be solved by open inspections – showing groups of people from the 17,000-long waiting list through a house and accepting the first person who wants it.

Groups will comprise people in similar circumstances and in the same priority categories on the waiting list.

The new system is used in the United Kingdom where potential tenants have been shown to accept a home more quickly, as they are aware other potential tenants are looking at the same property, and that there will also be competition for the next one offered.

The trial open house system will not have any effect on rent charged, which is 25 per cent of a tenant’s income.

Analysis of Housing Trust data shows the most common reason for a home offer being rejected last financial year was because the customer did not like the suburb it was in, with some nominating only a few suburbs that they would be happy living in.

Others said they would only move into a newly built house.

Minister for Human Services Michelle Lensink. Picture: David Mariuz

But there were also many minor reasons why a home was rejected, including prospective tenants wanting different floor coverings, or a smaller or bigger back yard.

Ms Lensink said the majority of Housing SA customers were “incredibly grateful” to be offered a public home.

“Public housing is a finite resource and that’s why we’re reforming our social housing system to ensure our most vulnerable South Australians are being supported,’’ she said.

“However about a third of offers are refused for various reasons and some people request very specific areas in which they want to live, so we really urge customers on the waitlist to consider multiple regions, increasing their chances of an offer.”