CARE Financial administers payments made by the Rent Relief Fund to applicants and also provides other financial support. Photo: Facebook.
The Rent Relief Fund’s administrating organisation says there are no other government programs that can provide the same level of service, as the ACT has confirmed the money will be gone by winter’s end.
CARE Financial administers the payments, which CEO Carmel Franklin described as a “vital support mechanism” for people experiencing rental or financial stress.
However, the ACT government is set to end the fund on 30 June, saying it was always meant to be a short-term measure in the wake of the COVID pandemic and is now superseded by other supports.
“It’s had a significant positive impact in the time that it’s been around … and many people have been able to get over a short-term hump by receiving that grant,” Ms Franklin said.
“It might have been introduced as a COVID measure, but it was extended as a cost-of-living measure and the pressures on people on modest incomes has not gone away.
“Now is absolutely not the time to be axing that program.”
She explained not only did it provide a stop-gap for people who may have lost a job or received an unexpected bill (like a medical expense or school excursion cost), but for people looking to escape family violence.
“It’s helped people who’ve experienced domestic and family violence who might actually in the long-term want to go somewhere else, but they need help right then and there to have a roof over their head for themselves and their children while they’re going through a crisis situation,” Ms Franklin said.
CARE Financial receives about 20 applications each week to access the fund. Applicants can receive longer term support through CARE’s financial counselling services.
Operations director Aoife Berringer said there weren’t any other supports – either at a territory or federal level – that offered this type of targeted relief.
“Sometimes you just don’t earn enough to meet your cost of living [pressures], so it’s not just [a case of] sorting out your budget and making savings here, there and everywhere,” she said.
“Sometimes what actually helps people is to access emergency relief so that they can have food on the table … just to relieve pressure for four weeks.
“I just don’t think there’s something else that quite does that.”
Both the ACT Greens and Canberra Liberals have declared they’ll use the time between when the budget is announced (June) and when it is debated in the Legislative Assembly (September) to try and bring the fund back.
ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury described canning the fund as a “terrible place” to find budget savings.
“There is not enough government housing, the waiting list is very significant and so if someone loses their tenancy, there’s no plan B,” he said.
“[The fund] has also been an important measure to insulate people against the shortage of government or affordable housing in the Territory.
“The government only needs $1.7 million to keep this fund going.”
He pointed to the new short-term rental accommodation levy, which is forecast to bring in $3.8 million in revenue in 2025-26, and the Greens’ proposed big business payroll tax as places where the money could be found.
The Canberra Liberals are giving “serious consideration” to what steps can be taken to restore the fund, as well as other cost-of-living supports.
Community Services Shadow Minister Chiaka Berry the scheme had saved 1204 grant recipients from “likely homelessness”.
“What an awesome outcome for a small investment of $240,000 per annum,” she said.
“Why can’t Labor see that a scheme that arose during a pandemic crisis may have intrinsic value beyond the pandemic response?”
Treasurer Chris Steel said the government felt, given the ACT’s narrow tax base, the Commonwealth had greater ability to provide the support, such as through its rental assistance program.
“We don’t have the ability, in some circumstances, to continue the level of emergency relief that was provided during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
“[This program] is one that we’ve been clear with the community organisations delivering it and the broader community, that it was temporary emergency relief.”
He pointed to other local supports, such as Woden Community Services and the broader One Link Housing and Homelessness gateway, as places to find help.
Mr Steel also highlighted the targeted concessions in the budget to ease cost-of-living pressures, such as the gas and water rebate.
“We’ll also have more to say ahead of the budget in relation to housing affordability and the investments that the ACT government will continue to make to support people who are renting or looking to buy a home. ”
