QUESTION: HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:10): My question is to the Minister for Human Services about the government's commitment to improve housing outcomes for South Australians. Will the minister please provide an update for the council about how the government is collaborating with the community sector to provide more social and affordable housing in the Adelaide CBD?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:10): I thank the honourable member for that most important question. I was very pleased, together with the member for Adelaide in her capacity as the local member, to recently be involved in the sod turning for the Spence on Light new building at 69 Light Square, Adelaide. It is a joint project being undertaken between Housing Choices South Australia, the Aged Care and Housing Group and the South Australian Housing Authority.

For those who know that part of Light Square, at the sod turning we are trying to recollect what that particular building had been used for in the past. I think we came to the conclusion that at one stage it was the nightclub known as Regines. So the facade and some of those walls have been retained. It is a very exciting project and we are looking forward to its redevelopment.

Housing Choices is particularly excited. They have some 840 former South Australian Housing Trust properties and tenancies, and this new building will add to the suite of their offerings. As our community providers do more developments, it enables them to invest in other areas, and obviously to provide that very important issue of more housing for people. So it will be a 14-storey, 75-unit apartment building. It is a joint project.

I am sure that my colleague the Minister for Health and Wellbeing is very familiar with the work of the Aged Care and Housing Group. They have been a leading developer in South Australia and have been incredibly innovative, particularly in the aged care space, and have piloted a number of models in South Australia over the years that have led the nation, if not the world.

The housing authority will be purchasing 40 properties. The properties will have improved accessibility, and we anticipate there will be a number of people in particular who are older people. We know that older women are emerging as a cohort in the homelessness space, so we anticipate that there will be opportunities to live in the CBD. There are not many opportunities, I might say, for a lot of people to live within the CBD, so we are very excited about this new building and, particularly as we are celebrating our 125^th anniversary of suffrage, it is appropriate that the building is named in honour of Catherine Helen Spence.