Public housing tenants will be taxed a “vacant bedroom charge” for under-occupied Housing NSW properties. With some exceptions, tenants are considered to be under-occupying when there are more bedrooms in the property than are needed for the number of people approved to live in the house (based on the policy).
Vacant bedroom charge is a reduction a tenant’s rental subsidy, thus increasing rent payable per week. For a single tenant who has one spare bedroom in their home, they will have their rent increased by $20 per week, whilst a couple with one spare bedroom in their home will have a rent increase of $30 per week.
The new charge will apply in the following situations:
- A tenant requests a transfer due to under-occupancy and subsequently refuses two reasonable offers of alternative public housing;
- A tenant is asked by Housing NSW to move due to under-occupancy and subsequently refuses two reasonable offers of alternative public housing; or
- A tenant is asked by Housing NSW to move due to under-occupancy and refuses.
This leaves public tenants in ‘under-occupied’ properties with two options:
- Move out ‘voluntarily’ and be placed on the priority list for transfer to a smaller home; or
- Pay the vacant bedroom charge.
The vacant bedroom charge will result in many tenants having to choose between the social costs of moving away from their communities and the financial cost of paying the charge and staying in their homes.
Even if they make the decision to relocate and free up their ‘under-occupied’ home, they will not be housed before a housing applicant assessed as ‘at risk’ unless they themselves fall into the ‘at risk’ category, according to Housing NSW’s eligibility criteria.
As demand for public housing far outweighs the available supply, the efficient allocation of available resources is an important aspect of Housing NSW’s policy framework. While the policy attempts to reduce the number of families on the waiting list, its application will not fix the problem.
With less than 44 per cent of housing needs in NSW being met, unless more supply is created and long-term planning is implemented the real problem of housing shortages will not be addressed.
