Regional housing pilot program launched

The new Regional Key Worker Housing Scheme aims to create a continuous pipeline of homes, aimed at attracting and retaining police, teachers and healthcare workers in key country areas.

A pilot program will be immediately rolled out to deliver approximately 30 homes for these key services across the Copper Coast, Riverland, Mount Gambier, Port Augusta and Ceduna.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said the housing crisis in SA was not just confined to Adelaide with rental vacancy rates even tighter in parts of regional SA.

"That makes it even tougher for those communities to get the people and the skills they need to thrive," he said.

"Not every country town has the same needs.

"This important work will be done in collaboration with each of these regional communities to ensure these measures are being rolled out in a sustainable way to address these individual needs into the long-term."

The scheme will be run by a newly established Office for Regional Housing, which will sit within Renewal SA.

Houses delivered under the scheme may be sold to private investors under long-term lease arrangements.

Following the delivery of the pilot program, there is scope for it to be expanded to other regions and be available to organisations seeking to secure long-term access to new, fit-for-purpose housing for their workers.

Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said this step was important to allow regional communities to grow.

"South Australia's regions contribute over $30 billion every year to the state's economic prosperity across critical industries," he said.

"What we don't want is for this growth to be hindered by a shortage of suitable housing, especially when it gets in the way of employers looking to fill job vacancies."

The newly-established office will work with local councils, regional businesses, builders, and investors to coordinate the scheme.

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In addition, the Office will work with these partners to help facilitate other housing projects that specifically contribute to key strategic and economic objectives, and reflective of the unique challenge faced across the state.

Local Government Association president and Kimba mayor Dean Johnson said there was a lot happening in regional SA and it required housing.

"Many councils across the state have already been doing what they can to facilitate housing development through rate rebates, providing council-owned land for development, and in smaller townships even under-writing building contracts directly," he said.

"Expanding the role of Renewal SA is something we've called on to help bridge the gap between councils' local knowledge of housing shortages and the commercial knowledge needed to make housing projects viable.

"This coordinated approach is what's needed to address housing challenges and workforce shortages, which is why we greatly welcome the state government's announcement today."

Among some of the inclusions in the scheme is amendments to the Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) Regulations 2017 to remove red tape associated with constructing or placing a temporary building or structure to be used as accommodation for key workers.

This will also give the Planning Minister Nick Champion the ability to designate broader kinds of work to be included in the regulation - which could include work associated with constructing replacement dwellings for those affected by the recent Riverland floods.

This amendment is in addition to the Government fast-tracking seasonal workers accommodation late last year.

Regional Development Minister Clare Scriven said communities across regional South Australia had felt the full effect of housing challenges, especially when it comes to finding a home for much-needed skilled professionals.

"The work being done by the new Office for Regional Housing will not only help us address these housing challenges, but will have flow-on benefits of addressing skills gaps," she said.

Opposition leader David Speirs had called on the state government to address regional housing shortages, saying there was more attention needed in this area.

He said Regional Development Australia had estimated there was nearly $50 billion in economic activity that could be unlocked if action was taken to address the skills shortage and housing crisis in the regions.

"South Australia's regions are an economic powerhouse for our state, but the current skills shortage and housing crisis is crippling opportunity," Mr Speirs said.

"Since becoming state Liberal leader, I have visited more than 60 different regional towns and the message from the community is always the same - we need more workers and we need more houses.

"This is a huge handbrake on our economy and in some cases, businesses are actually choosing not to invest in projects because of the skill shortage and lack of accommodation."

Regional South Australia opposition spokesperson Nicola Centofanti said more needed to be done.

"There is significant opportunity to grow our regions but that's being put at risk due to critical skill shortages and the housing crisis," she said.

Regional Planning and Regional Population Growth opposition spokesperson Sam Telfer said there were opportunities in the regions. the Speirs Liberal Opposition is focussed on economic growth for South Australia.

"South Australia's regions are a fantastic place to live, work and raise a family and we want more people to be able to experience this," he said.