SA Housing Trust ‘finds’ 477 more vacant public housing homes
The list of vacant homes in SA that could be occupied by people doing it tough has grown more than officially reported.
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In the midst of a housing crisis where mothers are living in tents with their young children, it has emerged the SA Housing Trust has 477 more homes vacant than it officially claimed, including nearly 300 that can be immediately occupied but remaininexplicably empty.
SAHT told The Advertiser last month it had about 1450 homes which could not be tenanted because they were awaiting maintenance.
However, Minister for Housing and Urban Development Nick Champion has told parliament SAHT had a total of 1927 vacant homes – 10 times the number of rough sleepers in Adelaide’s CBD last month.
The Sunday Mail reported the 1450 SAHT homes the trust said were sitting vacant across the state for maintenance (the latest figure is 1591, a 50 per cent increase since 2000) was seven times the 191 people recorded to be sleeping rough in and around the Adelaide CBD as of September this year and four times the 336 rough sleepers recorded across the state in the 2021 Census.
It comes amid The Advertiser’s Be Their Champion campaign which reports mothers and children are living in tents, sheds, cars and bathrooms as they await public housing among about 15,500 on the list.
On Saturday, the Sunday Mail took a 90-minute walk around the trust units near Glenelg Golf Club, off Morphett Rd, Bonython Ave and James Melrose Rd.
Amid the graffitied tin fences and piles of rotten furniture, one in every eight homes in a section known as Stotts Court was vacant. Residents say one unit has been vacant for two years.
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Originally published as SA Housing Trust ‘finds’ 477 more vacant public housing homes
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