South Australian Housing Trust (South Australian Housing Authority) (GA127)

The South Australian Housing Trust was established under the South Australian Housing Trust Act 1936 as the State's public housing authority to provide low income housing, and to house workers, near places of employment.

Under the terms of the Act the Trust was established as a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, and with power to hold and dispose of property. The Trust was also empowered to borrow money for building houses, buy, sell, or lease property and enter into loan transactions, and to build, repair and enlarge houses. Restrictions were however placed upon the classes of persons eligible for assistance from the Trust (1).

Provision of funds for the Trust's activities were provided for by two separate Trust Funds, the first being moneys lent to the Trust under Section 20 of the Act or by the Treasurer, the second for funds given to the Trust or realised from the sale or investment of any gifts to the Trust (2).

When the Trust commenced operations in 1937 it was confined to the building of houses for rental only. The Act of 1936 severely restricted the capital cost per house in order to keep the rents within the means of lower paid workers. For this reason the Trust for many years built only the double unit attached type of dwelling although subsequent legislation (introduced in 1946) made possible the building of single unit houses for letting.

Under the terms of the Housing Improvement Act no. 96 of 1940, the Trust was empowered to require district councils to declare houses unfit for human habitation, to regulate the rental of sub-standard dwelling houses, and to provide housing for persons of limited means (3).

In the late 1940's the Trust's prime concern became the alleviation of the housing shortage and support for the building industry.

Since 1942, the Trust has held all its property on behalf of the Crown. From 1952 the Trust was enabled to advance money on second mortgage to purchasers, and in 1962 a rental-purchase scheme was established.

During the period after 1952 the Trust began building a number of blocks of flats in the metropolitan area at Elizabeth.

In 1965 the Housing Trust Amendment Act no. 48 of 1965 placed the Trust under the direction and control of the Minister administering the Act (4).

Statutory limitations on the capital cost of houses built by the Trust were removed, enabling larger and better appointed houses to be built.

By the provisions of the Housing Trust Agreement Act of 1973, advances could henceforth be used by the Trust to purchase and renovate older houses to let to needy families (5).

Most of the funds used to finance the building operations of the Trust are borrowed either from the State Government under the Commonwealth - State Housing Agreement or from semi-government sources arranged in conjunction with the State Treasury (6).

The Trust's activities are quite varied and extensive and include rental dwellings, housing for Aborigines, housing for the aged, purchase of houses for rental purposes, special purpose housing (for disadvantaged members of the community), priority housing assistance (through an Emergency Housing Office), building houses for sale to the public in middle-lower income ranges, construction of identical and commercial properties, and regulation of sub-standard housing (7). Details of the activities of the Trust are provided in their annual report, printed from 1936 as Parliamentary Paper no. 42. See also Paper no. 48 of 1940, for the Report of the Public Service Commissioner on the first 3 years of the Trust's operations.

In October 1994 the two main functions of the Trust - residential property management and rental tenancy management were established as separate business units. Property Management is broadly responsible for the acquisition and disposal of housing stock and maintenance of housing assets, while tenancy management and assistance in private rental are handled by Housing Services.

In 2006, Housing SA was established to deliver housing services. However, the South Australian Housing Trust retains ownership and management of the State's housing assets (8).

In 2007, the Aboriginal Housing Authority and the South Australian Community Housing Authority were incorporated into the South Australian Housing Trust. The Housing Trust received administrative services from the Department for Families and Communities, later the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion.

In 2011, urban renewal and real estate management functions of the Housing Trust were transferred to Renewal SA.

In May 2018, the South Australian Housing Trust began trading as the South Australian Housing Authority (SAHA), which also took on renewal and real estate management functions formerly held by Renewal SA. Housing SA is the Authority's publicly branded name and used to identify the organisation to members of the public. Some administrative services for SAHA are provided by the Department of Human Services. (9)

For other records relating to the Housing Trust see GRG 71/156 and GRG 24/160.

References:

1) SA Statutes, no. 2333 of 1936.
2) ibid.
3) SA Statutes, no. 56 of 1940.
4) SA Statutes, no. 48 of 1965
5) SA Statutes, no. 78 of 1973.
6) SA Yearbook 1980, p. 374.
7) ibid.
8) South Australian Housing Trust, Annual Report, 2006/2007.
9) RDS 2020/06 v1, pp. 12-13