The maintenance of South Australian Housing Trust homes is currently provided through external service providers under service contracts. However, recent reports over issues with payment of subcontractors and associated service providers have come to light.

Any instance where subcontractors are not being paid for satisfactorily completed works is unacceptable. Further, amid a housing crisis, having homes left vacant and unfit for tenancy due to delays in maintenance is egregious and must be addressed.

To investigate and address this issue, the government has conducted a review into the South Australian Housing Trust Maintenance Contracts.

The review was tasked with:

  • Reviewing data on the level, standard and timeliness of maintenance works achieved.
  • Ensuring the appropriate arrangements are instituted to enable sub-contractors to be paid in full, and in accordance with existing legislative timeframes.
  • Ensuring an appropriate and effective dispute resolution mechanism exists (for sub-contractor payment).
  • Reviewing and providing advice to Government on the existing South Australian Housing Trust Maintenance Contract in the context of the current economic conditions.
  • Considering alternative delivery or service improvement models that could improve and enhance the maintenance outcomes for the South Australian Housing Trust and its clients.

The review was conducted by the Chairs of the Government’s Independent Statutory Authorities: the Urban Renewal Authority, SA Water Board and the South Australian Housing Trust Board, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Department for Housing and Urban Development. This Committee provided a report to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development in September 2024, and announcements will be made soon

Monday 1 July 2024

  • The Committee will conduct a roundtable with relevant government representatives, unions and industry bodies

1 - 31 August 2024

  • The committee will accept submissions from all parties regarding their experiences with the maintenance contract and how to improve it.

September 2024

  • The committee will conclude their report.

The Head Contractors will receive individual meetings with the Committee to contribute to the findings of the review.

The committee will decide if other meetings are required.

Written submissions are now closed. The submission period was open from 1 - 31 August 2024.

The Committee accepted written submissions from tenants, tradespersons, and other key stakeholders about their experiences with the maintenance contract and how to improve it.

The Committee wishes to thank all parties who took the time to provide a submission.  The submission Practice Guidelines are still available to outline the use and privacy of your submission.

For all new maintenance requests or to follow up on an existing maintenance request, please call the SA Housing Trust Maintenance Contact Centre on 131 288.  Alternatively, you can lodge non-urgent maintenance issues via our housing connect online portal by following this link https://my.housing.sa.gov.au/housingconnect.html

The South Australian Housing Trust Maintenance Contracts Review was announced as part of the Housing Roadmap by Premier Peter Malinauskas on 25 June 2024. The Maintenance Contracts Audit Committee (the Committee) has been established as a result.

The South Australian Housing Trust Maintenance Contracts Audit (the Audit) will audit the performance of each Head Contractor in respect to specified aspects of their operations, including with a view to informing the Trust as to the effectiveness of existing Maintenance contracts and service delivery model in relation to current economic conditions and opportunities to improve service outcomes to the people of South Australia.

The Audit will be conducted pursuant to and in accordance with audit powers existing under the Trust’s maintenance contracts with its three Head Contractors. These powers permit the Trust to carry out or cause to be carried out in a fair and reasonable manner an audit of any aspect of the operations of the Head Contractors relating to the contract.

The Committee will ensure that the Head Contractors are provided reasonable notice in writing prior to any investigations involving access to Head Contractor premises, staff (being persons employed or contracted by the Head Contractors or their subcontractors), Books and Records.

The Committee will, subject to any notice requirements to the Head Contractors as set out in the contracts, consult with Head Contractors, sub-contractors, tenants, and industry bodies/ advocates in addition to staff of the Trust.

The Committee will respect contractual obligations of the Trust and all commercial entities involved in the delivery of maintenance services and treat all materials and consultation feedback as commercial in confidence.

The Committee will consider, report on and make recommendations to the Trust and the Minister to enable the following to occur:

  • Reviewing data on the level, standard and timeliness of maintenance works achieved.
  • Ensuring the appropriate arrangements are instituted to enable sub-contractors to be paid in full, and in accordance with existing legislative timeframes.
  • Ensuring an appropriate and effective dispute resolution mechanism exists (for sub-contractor payment).
  • Reviewing and providing advice to Government on the existing South Australian Housing Trust Maintenance Contract in the context of the current economic conditions.
  • Considering alternative delivery or service improvement models that could improve and enhance the maintenance outcomes for the South Australian Housing Trust and its clients.

The Committee is responsible for delivering a report to the Board of the South Australian Housing Trust. The Board will provide this report to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development by 30 September 2024. The report will consist of the findings from the Audit and provide recommendations for the Board and Minister’s consideration.

The Board and Minister will be responsible for considering the Committee’s findings and recommendations and ensuring appropriate action is taken in response.

The Committee consists of chairs of boards of the three statutory agencies that are part of the Department for Housing and Urban Development, and the Chief Executive Officer of the department:

  • South Australian Housing Trust Board Chair (Committee Chair)
  • Urban Renewal Authority Board Chair
  • SA Water Board Chair
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development Chief Executive

The SA Housing Trust (the Trust), part of the Department for Housing and Urban Development, is responsible for the maintenance of more than 33,000 housing trust homes through external service providers.

SA Government recently completed a comprehensive review of the Trust’s maintenance contracts, to improve service outcomes and to address reports over issues with payment of sub-contractors and service providers. The review, announced as part of the Housing Roadmap, focused on payments to sub-contractors, maintenance service performance, dispute resolution mechanisms and communication. Input was received from a range of stakeholders including head contractors, sub-contractors and tenants to better understand challenges to identify opportunities for improvement.

Key findings of the review include:

  • no evidence of systemic underpayments or delayed payments for completed and compliant works – the average payment to sub-contractors is made between 6 and 14 days
  • confirmed the limited availability of trades is impacting the backlog of overdue work orders – around a month’s worth of work
  • vacancy maintenance is not being completed quickly enough
  • current trades pricing is below market rates making it harder to attract sub-contractors
  • contractors must communicate with tenants better about works being completed.

The report provides a number of recommendations, including:

  • increasing our annual maintenance budget
  • paying market rates to sub-contractors
  • getting tenants into properties faster by allocating after essential work is finished and completing follow up work after tenant has moved in
  • Head contractors to improve communications with tenants and our staff regarding work progress on jobs
  • an improved streamlined maintenance enquiry and escalation process for tenants.

The Trust is committed to improving the maintenance of its homes and is working closely with providers and contractors to implement better solutions going forward.

SA Government has announced the injection of $37.1 million to accelerate the delivery of necessary maintenance and upgrades on vacant SA Housing Trust properties.

You can read the full report (PDF, 570.6 KB) and list of recommendations (PDF, 112.0 KB).