Available, Allocated.
SA Housing Trust is delivering a boost of $37.1 million to accelerate the maintenance and upgrades on vacant Trust properties.
The State Government is providing the additional $37.1 million over five years to the Trust’s maintenance budget from 2024-25, taking the annual maintenance budget to approximately $130m.
The Trust is introducing a new model to increase the speed in which vacant properties are re-tenanted. This will include implementing a more efficient way to allocate properties, where tenants will move into a property as soon as it is safe, clean, and functional. Some of these homes may require minor maintenance works or upgrades to be undertaken while the property is tenanted. This is what tenants have told us they want - and it will get more people into homes, quickly.
The Trust is complementing the normal approach it uses to make vacant properties ready to be re-tenanted with the following activities:
- Improved forecasting and early assessment of properties to –
- channel them into appropriate vacancy maintenance works streams, and
- commence early matching of tenants to move into the property once ready.
- Focusing on delivering essential works to ensure the property is safe, clean and functional before providing it to a new tenant. These homes are perfectly fine to be re-tenanted, but some may require minor maintenance after the tenant has moved in.
- Packaging multiple vacant properties in geographical areas to ensure there is more efficient use of contractors, streamlined workflows, and faster turnaround times.
- Rapidly assessing, approving, and completing the refurbishment on houses that require a significant amount of work due to fire, termite damage etc. via expansion of our existing panel of builders.
- Significantly boosting resources in the team that matches Housing Register customers with public housing properties ready to be relet.
The Trust has already started allocating properties faster than it has in many years.
Elder Village sod turned at Warriparinga
In March 2025, we broke ground on a new $17.68 million Aboriginal Elder Independent Living Village to be called 'Purrakaitya’ (in Kaurna meaning ‘for all Elders’). Purrakaitya is located near culturally significant Kaurna site 'Warriparinga' in Adelaide’s southern suburbs near the Sturt River in Bedford Park. Warriparinga is a culturally significant Kaurna meeting place and is next door to the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre, a centre for cultural education and performances.
This 40-unit village is designed for Aboriginal people, creating long-term, culturally welcoming social housing for Aboriginal Elders. The project is a joint approach to housing between native title holders, state and federal governments and community housing organisations. The Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation (KYAC) owns and leases the sites to national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and not for profit housing provider Aboriginal Community Housing Limited (ACHL).
The village will be an alternative to general public housing and offers independent living complemented by gathering spaces like outdoor common areas and fire pits, spaces not available in other social housing.
Guided by the South Australian Aboriginal Housing Strategy 2021-2031, Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan and a national Agreement on Closing the Gap, Aboriginal voices shaped the design, location and Aboriginal economic participation in the project. Aboriginal enterprises and subcontractors will deliver 33% of the project, and positions for Aboriginal apprentices and trainees will be created as part of the project.
SA Housing Trust wins UDIA excellence award
We are proud to have received national recognition yet again through the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) awards for our Virtual Power Plant (VPP) project.
The project won the award in the Social and Community Infrastructure Award category.
The project, a collaboration between the Trust, Tesla and the Department for Energy and Mining, aims to provide more affordable, reliable, and secure electricity for all South Australians.
Over 6500 public housing homes benefit from the VPP project. The SA VPP has already helped stabilise the power grid on numerous occasions including during major bushfire events.
New affordable homes in the city for women at risk
A new $15.7 million housing development offering 24 affordable, long-term rental accommodation for women and survivors of family and domestic violence, has opened in Adelaide CBD.
YWCA Australia, also with SA Housing Trust's financial support, built the seven-storey building featuring one, two, and three-bedroom apartments.
This development is the first of its kind in the city and will help address a national shortage of long-term, affordable rentals for women. It will accommodate up to 57 residents, including women and their family members with low to moderate incomes, with the first residents arriving next week.
This development adds to other women's housing projects under construction in the Adelaide CBD, including our Tucker Street accommodation for older women at risk of homelessness.
Our tenant Woody's interview
Our tenant Woody knows what it's like to be homeless and has used his knowledge to advocate for others who are homeless, teaching them how to take their own steps forward.
Woody continues to pursue his creative interests through poetry, graphic design, and making videos while inspiring others on their journey.
Woodville Place: Stage 3A land release
SA Housing Trust launched its latest land release at Woodville Place, on 5 March 2025, offering 10 allotments for sale to the open market.
Woodville Place is designed as a master-planned, large-scale residential development to foster diverse and sustainable communities. The development caters to individuals from varied income levels, backgrounds, and abilities. It includes SA Housing Trust public housing, affordable housing, and land allotments available to the open market.
These allotments were under contract within days, with the next stage to be released shortly.
