SA Greens to launch bill to use private land to ease homelessness
5 August 2022 at 9:46 am
South Australian Greens follow Victoria’s lead in a move aimed at tackling growing homelessness.
Robert Simms, Member for the State South Australian Parliament will introduce a bill next month calling for privately-owned vacant land to be temporarily acquired by the State for temporary public housing.
The bill is based, in part, on a Victorian State initiative that uses public vacant land for the same purpose.
He said the bill was directed specifically to long-held vacant plots held for land-banking purposes.
“This bill would enable the Government to activate that land and once planning approval was confirmed it would return back to the owner, with no additional cost to the title holder,” he said.
“O’Connell Street in North Adelaide, for example, has been vacant for 30 years.
“On the one hand it encourages people who own land to develop it, but it also provides a temporary solution for those who are desperate for shelter at the moment.”
The bill comes as reports show “84,000 homes were deemed vacant across South Australia”, Simms said.
In a speech on 6 July Simms quoted statistics that show according to a South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS) report, renter households had lower incomes than homeowner households and spent proportionately more of their income on housing.
“That report showed that 39,556 renters in December 2021 were experiencing housing stress.”
Jenny Smith, chair of national homelessness body, Homelessness Australia said the peak body welcomes discussion of any proposal to tackle the rental crisis.
“We welcome discussion of any proposal which seeks to help the rental crisis in the short term,” she said.
“Temporary and portable housing can play an important short-term role, but governments across the board need to take the steps to address the 433,000-dwelling shortfall of affordable and stable homes for those on our lowest incomes.
“State and federal governments have the power to end homelessness and rent stress for good.
“Building social housing, investing more in support services and increasing welfare payments are critical steps which will provide real long-term solutions.”
Recent research on homelessness released by the body on 1 August highlights a lack of access to affordable long-term housing.
In the 2020-2021 period 76,177 people missed out on housing nation-wide,109,207 people came to homeless services needing long term housing and it was provided to only 3.4 per cent of applicants.
