Labor pledges millions to combat homelessness in the city
Labor has made a new pledge to tackle homelessness, but the sector’s peak body says more needs to be done statewide to combat the growing challenge.
Labor would commit an extra $6 million to combat homelessness in Adelaide’s CBD if re-elected at the March state election.
The money would be shared across Catherine House, Hutt Street Centre and St Vincent de Paul to support their specialist work to address homelessness.
Today’s announcement came after more than 30 key SA organisations sent a letter to the Premier in December calling for “urgent support to invest decisively in addressing the homelessness crisis”.
When announcing the pledge today, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas and Human Services Minister Nat Cook said the additional cash would “complement” the more than $78 million in funding already provided to homelessness services.
Dr Catherine Earl, who is CEO at the South Australian Council of Social Service, welcomed the announcement, saying the sector’s peak body had been calling for a significant boost to funding for homelessness.
“Catherine House, Hutt Street Centre and Vinnies are all long-standing and high-profile homelessness services in the CBD, and this additional funding will be a significant boost to their great work,” she said.
Earl said the state government’s current review of SA’s homelessness services system would highlight areas and services where additional funds are needed.
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“With a decline in the real value of funding in recent years, there are many homelessness services operating on limited resources and struggling to meet demand,” she said.
“We look forward to the government concluding its review and hope that it encompasses a whole-of-state homelessness response and further funding increases, including the funding of a peak homelessness services body, to enable every South Australian to have a safe and secure location to live.”
Labor said it had previously committed $9.5 million for Hutt Street Centre’s Aspire program, $7 million for the Domestic Violence Crisis Accommodation Program, $2 million for St Vincent de Paul and $20 million for a 50-unit CBD complex for women at risk of homelessness.
In addition, Labor said it had spent hundreds of millions on social and affordable housing, as well as making planning changes to make it easier for granny flats and to use churches as temporary shelter.
Premier Malinauskas claimed the SA Liberals “slashed funding to these groups when they were last in government”.
“Increased funding gives them more ability to do what they are experts in – connecting with clients and supporting them to have a better future,” he said.
Speaking at a forum yesterday, Shadow Human Services Minister Michelle Lensink said that “in the homelessness and public housing space, the Public Housing Trust waitlist went down significantly under us, particularly the category one waitlist, which is for people who are at risk of homelessness”.
“We reformed homelessness services and DHS (the Department of Human Services) took on the role of pre-statutory services framework before removal so that they would get therapeutic supports with the intention of making every effort to try and keep children with their families, rather than taking them into care,” she said.
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Human Services Minister Nat Cook said Catherine House, Hutt St Centre and St Vincent de Paul “are critical organisations that provide specialist care to people at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness”.
“The Malinauskas Labor Government has worked tirelessly to support a strong, connected service system rather than resilience on any single provider,” she said.
St Vincent de Paul Society (SA) state president Geraldine Hawkes welcomed the funding.
“At a time when housing affordability and cost-of-living pressures are pushing more individuals and families into crisis, this investment is both timely and necessary,” she said.
Catherine House director Julie Duncan said the “vital funding” would help the women’s homelessness service “deliver trauma-informed accommodation, support and assistance to find safe and stable housing for women in South Australia”.
Hutt St Centre chief executive Chris Burns said the government’s investment of $2 million dollars over the next four years into the Hutt St Centre’s Aspire Program “will save the lives of 71 people experiencing chronic homelessness and return $3.2 million dollars to South Australian taxpayers in avoided services”.
During the January heatwave, InDaily reported that Hutt St Centre had received a record number of visits in a single day, with 203 people using the centre.
Burns also said that Hutt St Centre would reach capacity within the next three years unless more social housing becomes available for clients.
In the 2024 to 2025 financial year, 40,504 to 42,975 people accessed Hutt St Centre’s Wellbeing Centre, while an average of 826 people access Hutt St Centre services each week.
Burns feared that if the trend continued, Hutt St Centre would have no choice but to turn people away by 2028.
InDaily also reported in January that Shelter SA would cease operating from February 6, with the peak homelessness body forced to voluntarily wind up as a solvent incorporated association to ensure it could meet financial liabilities
Labor also announced today that, if re-elected, it would renovate 300 vacant Housing Trust homes.
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