Old SA Housing Trust properties set for $35.8m upgrade
More than 3000 South Australian Housing Trust properties are in line for energy efficiency improvements – including new LED lighting and gas appliance electrification – under a joint state and federal government program.
Public housing tenant Janet Knott outside her Glandore home which she has lived in for the last 45 years. The home is one of 3500 Housing Trust properties slated for energy efficiency upgrades. Photo: SA Govt/supplied
The Albanese Government has been gradually rolling out a $300 million “Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative” revealed in the 2023/24 federal budget, with the South Australian portion of the program announced today.
Under the program, the federal and state government will each spend $17.9 million on energy efficiency upgrades for up to 3500 South Australian Housing Trust properties – equivalent to around $10,000 per home.
The upgrades include changing gas appliances to electric appliances, installing new roof insulation and window glazing, and draught-proofing homes to limit uncontrolled air movement.
The upgrades will reduce energy bills for public housing tenants and make their homes more comfortable in winter and summer, Planning Minister Nick Champion told reporters today.
Champion also said the average age of South Australia’s Housing Trust properties is 44 years old.
“We’ve got a lot of old stock. A lot of that stock is poorly insulated, it has draughts, and as a consequence it’s really hard to heat and cool and that has an effect on all of our tenants,” he said.
“The more efficient we make homes, the better insulated they are, the better the glazing on the windows, the better the draught proofing is around windows and doors, the less energy you have to use.
“It helps the Trust manage what is a pretty big renewal problem anyway.”
The recently rebranded SA Housing Trust, formerly the SA Housing Authority, manages around 33,000 public housing properties across the state, with the energy efficiency program to cover around 10 per cent of that stock.
Champion said many Housing Trust homes – including one in Glandore occupied by public housing tenant Janet Knott for the last 45 years – were built to one- or two-star energy ratings, with new house builds coming in at six and seven stars.
(L-R) State Housing and Development Minister Nick Champion, Labor MP for Boothby Louise Miller Frost, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy Josh Wilson and Glandore public housing tenant Janet Knott at a press conference today. Photo: SA Govt/supplied
The Planning Minister said the Housing Trust would prioritise properties for upgrades “where we can get the biggest bang for our buck”.
On October 1, all new South Australian homes – public housing or not – will have to be built to seven star energy standards, although the state government has carved out a range of exemptions after lobbying from the construction and housing industries.
