Extract from ABC News
Updated
Advocacy groups are warning that thousands of young
people living in community housing and low-rent private apartments face
eviction if their Newstart and Youth Allowances are cut off as a result
of new measures in the budget.
The social housing sector is
scrambling to measure the fallout from the changes to youth support
which the Government says will net them $1.2 billion over four years.Community housing, which is run by state governments, takes 25 per cent of all earnings to cover the rent.
From July 1 this year anyone under 25 will be moved from the Youth Allowance onto the less expensive Newstart allowance.
If anyone under the age of 30 loses their job they will have to wait six months before receiving any payments and demonstrate they have tried to find a job.
States need to pick up rent shortfalls: advocacy groups
Advocates are concerned that thousands of young people risk defaulting on their rent because of the tighter rules.Adrian Pisarski, the head of housing advocacy group National Shelter, says he is worried many young people will become homeless unless state governments are prepared to pick up or forgive the rent shortfalls.
"If they're in the private market they will be evicted, if they're in the public housing system, or the community housing system, there's a real question mark about how those bodies will treat that tenancy," Mr Pisarski said.
He says this is another example of cost shifting to the states.
"The only way they could continue to be housed in public housing if they don't have any income and therefore don't have any rent would be for the state to wear that cost."
Future in doubt for more than 280,000 young people
Caitlin Butler, 18, lives in a small hotel room Melbourne. She has been homeless before and is a recovering ice-addict.
Ms Butler says she and a friend cover the rent with their Youth Allowance payments, and without them she would be homeless again.
"110 per cent. Because if my payment gets cut off and I lose this place I have nothing," she said.
"If I lost this I'd walk out the front door and ask 'where am I going to go now?'"
There are more than 280,000 young people on Newstart or the Youth Allowance.
About 194,000 of those on the payments are in streams 1 and 2. They are deemed employable or capable of attending a training program.
Young people in these streams face a six month benefit cut off under the new budget.
There are also nearly 90,000 recipients in stream 3 and 4, who will be exempt from the earn-or-learn provisions.
Newstart recipients fear homelessness
Community housing resident Matt Cooke has spent years looking for full time work.He is 27 years old and receives $518 a fortnight on Newstart.
After rent, he has $180 a week for food and all of his bills. He has completed a construction training program in the past, but it did not lead to a job.
Photo:
Matt Cooke says he has spent years looking for work and without Newstart payments he would not be able to pay his bills. (ABC News)
He says he is dubious about the Government's earn-or-learn mantra.
"If they want you to do training to keep your payment, unless that training's suitable, it's not going to work," he said.
Mr Cooke's family lives interstate, and he has no savings. He says he is afraid if his Newstart is cut off, the next stop for him will be homelessness.
"The main concern for me is definitely, where am I going to live? If I don't have a stable place to live how can I find jobs and get into work?"
The Housing Ministries in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland have told the ABC tightening the rules will create problems but they're still determining how they'll respond to the new measures.
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