were a lot better than nothing.” What advocates would really like to see is more investment in the social housing market. For many people, public housing is the best option, but at present there’s just not enough of it. “There are many people for whom the best home would be public housing and that’s because they are safe in their tenan- cies there, and not subject to the whims of landlords, and because they can get access to support with things like mental health or addictions. And vitally, the rent there is [commonly] set at 25% of their income, so it’s affordable,” Sharon says. “Unfortunately there’s a crisis in that area, we’ve got a critical lack of social housing that’s really hitting home now.” David suggests all signs point to a commitment from the government about doing something about these problems, but there’s no quick fix. “They want to develop a national plan on housing and homelessness, sadly the fact is they are
NEW BENEFITS FOR OVER 55 s So it is easy to see why certain measures in this year’s federal budget are aimed at the over 55s demographic. These measures include expanding the eligibility for the higher rate of JobSeeker to recipients aged 55 and over who have received the payment for nine or more continuous months, a rate that had previously only applied to those aged 60 and over. That change means around 52,000 eligible recipients will receive an increase in their base rate of payment of $92.10 per fortnight. It also confirmed that JobSeeker payments will continue to be automatically indexed to reflect changes in consumer prices. Another vital move is a 15% increase in the maximum rates of rent assistance, at a cost of $2.7 billion over five years. This will be the largest increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance in more than 30 years. There has been a cautious welcome for these measures from homelessness groups.
David points out that the adjustments to government payments are dwarfed by the fact that they come on the back of huge cost of living increases. “But it’s important to remember that when you’re choosing between food and housing, every dollar counts, and as such the budget policies “The number of people out there who are homeless is still unacceptable.” DAVID PEARSON Australian Alliance to End Homelessness
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