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Federal Government emergency assistance for the Greater Sydney lockdown is not available to those already receiving Centrelink payments including Youth Allowance and that can make it impossible to cover your rent, let alone food and other essentials.
By Jackie Pearson
Take the example of a student who is living away from home – a young adult from the Central Coast who is in a share house in Sydney, closer to their university so they don’t have to commute.
If they’re financially independent they may get some Youth Allowance but that is not anywhere near enough to live on in the city where a decent room in a share house can cost around $300 per week.
That student will undoubtedly need a casual job to supplement their Youth Allowance and get their weekly earnings anywhere near a bare bones survival rate.
What happens to that student this year when their casual job in hospitality disappears but there’s no additional government support to replace those earnings because they’re expected to survive on Youth Allowance.
Suddenly they do not earn enough to cover their rent. How they pay for food – well that’s not being mentioned by our political leaders.
The Federal Government has once again delegated responsibility for this crisis to the states and the NSW Government has entered the frame to make sure people who have to survive on existing Centrelink payments or the COVID emergency allowance with no other income at least cannot be evicted.
If you are a residential tenant who has lost 25% or more of your income due to the lockdown and can’t pay your rent, you should contact your landlord to agree on a plan to repay that money.
Until Saturday 11 September, a landlord can only apply for eviction if they show they’ve gone through the rent negotiation process with NSW Fair Trading in good faith, and their eviction request is fair and reasonable.
Of course, the landlords will be looked after at the end of the day. If you own a residential rental property and reduce the rent for a lockdown impacted tenant, you can now access financial support including land tax relief or a $1500 grant per property.
As with last year’s rental arrangements, any reduction in rent during the lockdown will need to be made up by the tenant at a later date which means lockdown has a sting in its tail when businesses re-open and students and casual workers return to their jobs- they have to catch up with any rent they were unable to pay during the lockdown. Landlords won’t have to repay the land tax relief grant though.
