Dire new record for homelessness service as SA loses ‘collective voice’
The Hutt St Centre served a record number of people last week as the homelessness crisis in South Australia worsens, and a crucial peak body announces its imminent closure.
Adelaide homelessness services provider Hutt St Centre had a record number of visits last Monday of 203, with high numbers of visitors continuing throughout the week, punctuated by a severe heatwave.
Speaking to InDaily, Hutt St Centre chief executive Chris Burns said Christmas was traditionally a busy time for the facility, which provides support for those at risk or experiencing homelessness in Adelaide.
But the centre had never hosted more than 200 people in a day, with the previous record on January 28, 2025 being 199 people visiting.
The number of visitors remained consistent during last week, hovering around the 180 mark, Burns said.
“Those are figures we’ve never experienced on a consistent basis before,” Burns said.
“We’re stretched, and there’s no new funding coming. We rely solely on donations in the form of cash, materials, food and volunteers to keep the wellbeing centre open to deal with those 200 people a day.”
Extra pressure was applied via the severe heatwave last week, which compelled the centre to remain open later than usual to ensure people had food, drink and air conditioning until the cooler evenings kicked in.
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“Demand for water and hydration was increased but if they do go out we want to be able to give them hats, sun tan lotion, things that keep them cool,” Burns said.
Burns said the number of people accessing the wellbeing centre grew from 40,504 people to 42,975 people in the 2024/25 financial year, while 826 people on average access the Hutt St Centre services each week.
He now feared this would be exacerbated by the imminent collapse of the housing sector’s peak body.
Shelter SA announced yesterday it would cease operating on February 6, and was forced to voluntarily wind up as a solvent incorporated association to ensure it could meet financial liabilities.
“Since being defunded by the Marshall Government in 2020, and despite many conversations and requests, without funding from the Malinauskas Government, Shelter SA has survived for over five years, only thanks to the financial support of our members,” Shelter SA chair Paul Astley said.
“We have been able to continue our housing and homelessness systems advocacy, but on a reduced scale.
“Our members are facing unprecedented financial pressures that the State Government is aware of but has yet to act upon to remedy the capacity of services to respond to our most vulnerable citizens.”
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South Australia is the only state in the nation without a government-funded peak body for homelessness, with Shelter SA executive director Dr Alice Clarke saying in November, “the future of housing… is dire”.
The South Australian Alliance to End Homelessness provided six recommendations to the government to “improve outcomes in preventing, reducing and ending homelessness”.
“Current housing options do not meet present needs; many are facing situations like never before, with unprecedented numbers of people experiencing homelessness dying from preventable and treatable illnesses,” the letter reads.
Speaking to InDaily today, SAAEH CEO David Pearson said it was “really regrettable that Shelter SA has to fold”.
“South Australia is the only state that doesn’t have a government-funded homelessness peak body in a homelessness crisis; that’s pretty concerning,” Pearson said.
He said he had received acknowledgment of the letter from Human Services Minister Nat Cook and Housing Minister Nick Champion.
“We live in hope that maybe some funding can be found to support the policy development, the representation of the homelessness sector, that’s needed in South Australia,” Pearson said.
Pearson acknowledged the work done by Shelter SA in the instigation of the creation of code blue responses to extreme weather, saying, “That’s a real standout”.
“We’re leaders in the country in how we respond to extreme weather events, and Shelter SA were pivotal to that,” Pearson said.
Burns said the loss of Shelter SA was “tragic”.
“That’s our collective voice,” he said.
“Shelter SA was that one peak body that could speak for all of us and could be critical to government.”
When asked yesterday at a press conference about Shelter SA’s imminent collapse, Champion said the government was “focused on the delivery of houses for South Australians”.
“We’re the first government in living memory to turn around the public housing numbers,” the Minister said.
