‘To think someone who has $600,000 might get social housing’: Changes to asset test for Housing SA properties

Income eligibility for social housing will be radically reduced in South Australia to ensure that only those facing significant disadvantage remain on the waiting list, the state government says.

Currently, couples with assets worth $616,000 or more, or $482,500 for single people, are entitled to apply for SA Housing tenancy.

But those upper limits will be slashed to $61,600 and $48,250 respectively.

Weekly income eligibility criteria will also be reined in, from $1,023 to $715 for single residents, or $1,338 to $1,112 a week for couples without children.

Human Services Minister Michelle Lensink said there were currently 16,600 people on Housing SA’s waiting list, about 800 of whom were expected to become ineligible once the change came into effect on August 25.

“When I was told about these income and asset limits, I was really quite shocked … I think most people would agree that a couple with household assets of $616,000 should not be eligible for social housing,” she said.

Ms Lensink said the changes would not be retrospectively applied, and that anybody currently in social housing would not be evicted as a result.

Exemptions will also apply for people facing “urgent or high housing need” including those at risk of domestic and family violence, and people with disabilities.

Ms Lensink said South Australia’s system was currently “out of kilter” with the rest of the country, and that other states already employed more stringent criteria.

“For anybody who’s currently living in public housing, they will not be affected by these changes at all. It’s all about the waiting list.

“Our income and assets, when you compare them to all the other states and territories around Australia, have been incredibly generous so we really just want to bring them into line with community expectations and make sure that people who access public housing are the most in need.”

‘Exercise in futility’, Opposition says

Labor human services spokeswoman Nat Cook said the change in policy was only likely to affect people who would not have been housed anyway, and said it was “an exercise in futility”.

“If this is not going to achieve anything for people, what is it for? How many people in the last five years have been allocated a home with this asset base behind them?” she said.

Ms Cook said there were currently “record numbers” of people being temporarily accommodated in hotels, and called on the government to make public the number of houses “that are tenantable and vacant”.

“This state is actually allocating less houses to people, we have the highest vacancy rate across the country,” she said.

“[In] February, we had around 400 houses tenantable and vacant.”

Starving while on the waiting list

Elizabeth North resident Rita Sacchetta recently documented her descent into poverty while facing homelessness, and secured a last-minute reprieve when she was granted ongoing SA Housing tenancy.

While Ms Sacchetta said while she had suffered a stroke since moving into her new home, her residential circumstances and peace of mind had nevertheless improved immeasurably.

“When I was paying the rent, there would be three or four days a fortnight where I wouldn’t eat at all,” she said.

“Most of the other days I would eat one meal.

“I had to ration my insulin so I wasn’t taking it every day. I was even eating out of dumpsters.”

She said it was “shocking” to learn that people with half a million dollars’ worth of assets could be considered entitled to social housing while she had suffered malnutrition on the waiting list.

“It makes me so angry because you’ve got people in the suburbs who have no housing, and to think that someone who has $600,000 might get social housing — there’s no need for them,” she said.

“Housing trust is a safety measure for society when we’re down and out.”

But she said there was an ongoing shortage of social housing.

“The unit they gave me was vacant for 12 months — 12 months, when there are people sleeping in the streets,” she said.

Ms Lensink said vacant social housing was often either “under offer” or being upgraded.

She told the ABC that superannuation would be part of the means test – but mainly for people in retirement.

She said there might have been some younger people accessing their super in a crisis but it would be unlikely to tip them over the income limit.

“There are very few people who enter public housing who actually have any superannuation,” she said.