Thousands of households staring down eviction as federal rental scheme winds up

More than 2000 Queensland households, including 337 across the federal electorates of Brisbane and Longman, will be left paying market rent or face eviction by December under the continued phase-out of the National Rental Affordability Scheme.

But amid serious concerns about housing and cost-of-living pressures, major parties are yet to devise a direct replacement for the maligned scheme, which is set to fold entirely by 2026. By that time, another 6000 households statewide will be left without a cheaper rental option.

In the federal electorate of Brisbane, 106 National Rental Affordability Scheme properties will exit the program this year alone.Credit: Getty

The Rudd-era scheme, launched in 2008, allows lower- and middle-income households to pay 20 per cent less than market rents. It was cut by the Abbott government in 2014, with a gradual phase-out by the end of 2025.

Some, including the Grattan Institute, have condemned the scheme as a $1 billion windfall for developers that failed to benefit most in need of rental assistance. Others, however, say the idea behind it remains one of the key means of addressing rental affordability.

One participant, who rents a one-bedroom apartment in an inner-Brisbane building that also includes private rentals, said the scheme had been incredibly beneficial and that she was not even aware it was coming to an end until this week, when a friend told her.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous due to concern about repercussions from her landlord, was accepted into the scheme in 2014 after a career change and health issues. She is now on income support after losing her job at the start of the pandemic.

Her allocation in the scheme will end in two years, and she said the next federal government should reboot help for renters rather than largely focusing on home ownership.

“There should be more of these places around, there’s not enough in my opinion,” she said.

“I’m just grateful that I’ve got a roof over my head, but come two years [from now], I don’t know how that’s going to look.”

Labor promised to reintroduce a version of the scheme during the 2019 election campaign but is not taking such a proposal to the May 21 poll.

Instead, its focus is on a shared-equity scheme to get people into the housing market, plus a $10 billion fund to invest in 30,000 new affordable and social housing properties within five years – still short of what peak housing and property groups say is needed to meet demand.

The Liberal National Party has committed to expanding its own home-buying schemes but has not put forward any policies focused on renters, who account for more than a third of the country’s households.

Under the Greens, 1 million publicly owned and affordable homes would be built within 20 years and renters’ rights would be boosted.

“With rental vacancy rates at record lows across the state and 50,301 people already on the [state] social housing register, the end of the federal government’s scheme spells disaster,” Queensland Council of Social Service chief executive Aimee McVeigh said.

“Neither side of politics has committed to extending or replacing the NRAS this federal election. This is a federal government choice that will make families homeless. It’s simply unacceptable.”

With 8219 properties, Queensland makes up the largest portion of the 28,000 households still active within the scheme, according to March data from the federal Department of Social Services. About 2000 have already been phased out statewide. By year’s end, 2273 more will have followed.

The electorates of Brisbane and Longman, taking in high-density areas near the city and growth areas around Caboolture to the north, make up about 15 per cent of the Queensland properties.

State Treasurer Cameron Dick and Prime Minister Scott Morrison traded criticisms this week after Dick called on the federal government to lift its investment in social housing because there was “no way that states can fill that gap”.

Morrison said his government had provided funding for 15,000 social and affordable homes through the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation, and said states such as Queensland needed to lift their own home-building targets and release more land to do so.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.