Coronavirus: ALP calls for tenant ‘hardship’ fund

The NSW government is being urged to set up a hardship fund for tenants and provide direct payments up to $2500.

NSW Labor spokeswoman on consumer protection Julia Finn.

The NSW government is being urged to set up a hardship fund for tenants and provide direct payments up to $2500 to help them manage their monthly costs as a result of economic losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Labor says a package of this kind would cost about $140m and mirror existing schemes operating in other jurisdictions, namely Victoria, where an $80m rental assistance fund is providing similar payments of up to $2000.

The median weekly rent for a two-bedroom unit in Sydney is about $525, the Tenants Union of NSW said. Across the rest of NSW, it is $310.

The NSW government has already provided relief to tenants through a $440m package of land tax breaks for landlords, with the savings supposed to be passed on to tenants. The tax waiver, up to 25 per cent, is provided if landlords temporarily reduce their rent. The money is then supposed to be repaid by the tenants at a later date.

The opposition has been critical of the scheme because it says it applies only to 16 per cent of landlords. Julia Finn, the opposition spokeswoman on consumer protection, said this estimate was based on Australian Taxation ­Office data.

In NSW, land tax is paid by those who own a property or properties valued above $734,000, not including their own home. Anything below that amount does not incur a land tax and does not benefit from the relief package.

Ms Finn said the tax exemption tended to assist wealthier landlords rather than “mum and dad” investors, to whom the majority of tenants paid their rent.

“We should have an equitable system … regardless of the land tax status of the landlord,” she said. “Many NSW tenants are struggling to keep their heads above water and the government’s lacklustre package will do nothing to help them in the long term.”

The NSW government also introduced a six-month moratorium on applications to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal to stop forced evictions resulting from rental arrears; this applies to renters who have lost 25 per cent of their household income because of the crisis.

Opposition finance spokesman Daniel Mookhey said Labor’s hardship package made economic sense because it would go some way to keeping tenants in place, avoiding a slump in the rental market if they were forced to seek cheaper housing.