If you are a landlord or real estate agent, you can help re-write the endings for young people facing homelessness.
Did you know that generous rental subsidies are available to help young people sustain a tenancy, while providing greater security to agents and landlords?
Young people face disproportionately high barriers and biases when attempting to secure rental accommodation. With long queues of applicants for every rental property, it is sadly easy to avoid renting to a young person. This is where Government funded programs like, Rent Choice Youth, work. They offer a framework to mitigate the perceived risks of renting to young people, ensuring a steady income stream and a higher guarantee of tenancy compliance.
These programs help young people to afford rent, while they pursue training or study, enabling them to step into a position where they have employment and can maintain their own tenancy. They also help provide greater security to landlords and agents who are renting to younger people, or people on lower incomes, as rent is subsidised.
Rent Choice Youth
Rent Choice Youth is a road map towards self-sufficiency. It operates on a premise of shared responsibility – during the initial 12-month tenancy period, the participant contributes 25% of their weekly income, plus 100% of any Commonwealth Rent Assistance they may receive. The remaining rental costs are covered by the NSW Government Communities and Justice Housing (DCJ Housing).
The program supports young people to study, gain employment and increase their income so they can afford to rent privately without any assistance.
The amount a young person pays towards their rent will go up gradually to help with this transition process.
Rent Choice Youth allows young individuals to focus on stabilising their lives without the daily pressures of homelessness.
Other subsidies
- Rent Choice – a private rental subsidy that helps people pay the rent for up to three years. Financial assistance may be available if the tenant is aged 16–24 and is homeless or at risk of homelessness
- Rentstart Bond Loan – an interest-free loan to cover part, or all, of the rental bond of eligible people moving into a private rental
- Advance Rent – a grant of up to two weeks’ rent for eligible Rentstart
- Bond Loan recipients who need additional help in setting up a tenancy
- Tenancy Guarantee – up to $1,500 to cover rental arrears of property damage over and above the rental bond
- Tenancy Assistance – up to four weeks’ rent to cover rent arrears and/or water arrears
Social Futures Connecting Home Program continues to support, even after a rental is found.
Social Futures supports young people through our Connecting Home program. And even after a rental property is found, we continue to support the young person during their tenancy through case management and our Rent It, Keep It workshops.
We help them build skills in:
- sustaining a tenancy
- budgeting and planning
- cleaning and looking after their home
- being a good neighbour.
If you are a real estate agent or landlord with a rental property, you can help house Australia’s future generation and give them the foot in the door they need.
By opening your properties to local young people, you can set in motion a series of events that could change lives for the better, permanently.
Contact our Connecting Home team for more information.
Phone us on 1800 048 310 or email [email protected]