The End of an Era & a Sad Day for Shelter SA
The End of an Era & a Sad Day for Shelter SA
The End of an Era - Shelter SA to close
Today is a very sad day for Shelter SA as we must let you know that we cannot continue to operate beyond early February. We are forced to voluntarily wind up, as a solvent incorporated association, to ensure we can meet our financial liabilities. The final day of Shelter SA’s operations will be 6 February 2026.
We have notified our members that we will hold a special general meeting to endorse a voluntary winding up. If you are a member, please respond to your invitation as soon as possible and nominate a proxy, even if you plan to attend. The meeting is not open to the public. Please note that we cannot accept any payments or donations at this time.
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. 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.
Peak bodies play an important role in civil society, working on systems, legislation, policy and funding, speaking up for those citizens who are often voiceless. In our case, vulnerable people living with the greatest housing need and experiencing homelessness. We know that some of the other peaks in South Australia are facing reductions in funding and warn that the possible demise of peak bodies does not bode well for not for profits and charities nor the citizens they serve and the important advice and resources they supply to governments.
South Australia is the only jurisdiction in Australia that does not fund its Shelter, the peak body for housing or the peak body for homelessness, Homelessness SA during a housing crisis.
Everything Shelter SA has done in the name of the peak body for housing, has been for those living with the greatest housing need and experiencing homelessness including our research and advocacy. We have purposely built a public presence through our social media platforms and mainstream media to inform the public and place pressure on decision makers to do better when it comes to housing and homelessness.
There are many achievements that we can be proud of over the last 49 years of policy and advocacy work including being acknowledged as the catalyst for the creation of an Aboriginal Housing Strategy and recommending a specialist peak body for Aboriginal Housing (now funded), the instigation of the creation of code blue responses to extreme weather, stopping the demolition of inner city public housing and keeping housing and homelessness on the political agenda, to name but a few. Shelter SA was the second peak body to achieve service excellence accreditation and the first peak body to register a Reconciliation Action Plan with Reconciliation Australia, providing the impetus for all government departments to create their own plans.
In the coming weeks, this Housing Matters enews will be deactivated, so you can rest assured that we respect your privacy and our subscriber list will be deleted. Our website, email addresses and our social media platforms will also be deactivated by 6 February.
While Alice’s employment at Shelter SA will cease on 6 February, you can still contact her as her mobile phone number will remain and she is a member of Linkedin.
We thank our committed Board for their contributions to Shelter SA and efforts to continue, despite a lack of sufficient financial support. The Board wishes to thank Alice for her dedication and frank and fearless advocacy for a fairer housing system and ending homelessness.
Paul Astley
Chairperson
Shelter SA
Advocacy Success!
Almost a year ago, Shelter SA undertook an important resident consultation initiated by the Supported Residential Facilities Association. We acknowledge the maturity of this sector and the improvements to residents' lives over time. We published a resident consultation report, urging the South Australian Government to include resident voices as a critical group of stakeholders in their review of the Supported Residential Facilities Act (ongoing). You can read more about the recommendations in the report.
We were pleased to note a recent announcement by Minister for Human Services, Nat Cook, that as per our recommendation, the Community Visitor Scheme will now include people with disabilities who are not living in State Government run facilities, like Supported Residential Facilities. This is an important change that will provide a safeguard to vulnerable South Australians and bring outside scrutiny into more supported accommodation.
From the Community Visitor Scheme website: In 2026, the scope of the Community Visitor Scheme will expand. It will be available to any person in South Australia who receives disability-related support, services or treatment and chooses to be part of the CVS.
SRF Resident Consultation Report
The End of an Era - Shelter SA to close
Today is a very sad day for Shelter SA as we must let you know that we cannot continue to operate beyond early February. We are forced to voluntarily wind up, as a solvent incorporated association, to ensure we can meet our financial liabilities. The final day of Shelter SA’s operations will be 6 February 2026.
We have notified our members that we will hold a special general meeting to endorse a voluntary winding up. If you are a member, please respond to your invitation as soon as possible and nominate a proxy, even if you plan to attend. The meeting is not open to the public. Please note that we cannot accept any payments or donations at this time.
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. 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.
Peak bodies play an important role in civil society, working on systems, legislation, policy and funding, speaking up for those citizens who are often voiceless. In our case, vulnerable people living with the greatest housing need and experiencing homelessness. We know that some of the other peaks in South Australia are facing reductions in funding and warn that the possible demise of peak bodies does not bode well for not for profits and charities nor the citizens they serve and the important advice and resources they supply to governments.
South Australia is the only jurisdiction in Australia that does not fund its Shelter, the peak body for housing or the peak body for homelessness, Homelessness SA during a housing crisis.
Everything Shelter SA has done in the name of the peak body for housing, has been for those living with the greatest housing need and experiencing homelessness including our research and advocacy. We have purposely built a public presence through our social media platforms and mainstream media to inform the public and place pressure on decision makers to do better when it comes to housing and homelessness.
There are many achievements that we can be proud of over the last 49 years of policy and advocacy work including being acknowledged as the catalyst for the creation of an Aboriginal Housing Strategy and recommending a specialist peak body for Aboriginal Housing (now funded), the instigation of the creation of code blue responses to extreme weather, stopping the demolition of inner city public housing and keeping housing and homelessness on the political agenda, to name but a few. Shelter SA was the second peak body to achieve service excellence accreditation and the first peak body to register a Reconciliation Action Plan with Reconciliation Australia, providing the impetus for all government departments to create their own plans.
In the coming weeks, this Housing Matters enews will be deactivated, so you can rest assured that we respect your privacy and our subscriber list will be deleted. Our website, email addresses and our social media platforms will also be deactivated by 6 February.
While Alice’s employment at Shelter SA will cease on 6 February, you can still contact her as her mobile phone number will remain and she is a member of Linkedin.
We thank our committed Board for their contributions to Shelter SA and efforts to continue, despite a lack of sufficient financial support. The Board wishes to thank Alice for her dedication and frank and fearless advocacy for a fairer housing system and ending homelessness.
Paul Astley
Chairperson
Shelter SA
Advocacy Success!
Almost a year ago, Shelter SA undertook an important resident consultation initiated by the Supported Residential Facilities Association. We acknowledge the maturity of this sector and the improvements to residents' lives over time. We published a resident consultation report, urging the South Australian Government to include resident voices as a critical group of stakeholders in their review of the Supported Residential Facilities Act (ongoing). You can read more about the recommendations in the report.
We were pleased to note a recent announcement by Minister for Human Services, Nat Cook, that as per our recommendation, the Community Visitor Scheme will now include people with disabilities who are not living in State Government run facilities, like Supported Residential Facilities. This is an important change that will provide a safeguard to vulnerable South Australians and bring outside scrutiny into more supported accommodation.
From the Community Visitor Scheme website: In 2026, the scope of the Community Visitor Scheme will expand. It will be available to any person in South Australia who receives disability-related support, services or treatment and chooses to be part of the CVS.
SRF Resident Consultation Report
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