• Australia risks undoing its work preventing homelessness during the COVID-19 crisis by ending eviction moratoriums and rent deferrals, advocates warn.
• The Australian Council of Social Service states some 75,000 renters negotiated deferrals, and will soon have to pay debts in arrears.
• Supported households will be at risk, “especially if they are carrying deferred rent liabilities from the emergency,” the report states.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Australia experienced no immediate increase to its homelessness rate through the coronavirus crisis of 2020, but a new report says vulnerable tenants could be pushed out of safe accommodation when eviction moratoriums and rent deferral periods come to an end.

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) states federal and state government interventions through mass industry shutdowns held off a “new homelessness surge that would otherwise have been expected to result from the pandemic-triggered economic downturn.”

The report states government-sanctioned eviction moratoriums, which prevented landlords from easily ending tenancy agreements, and rent variations, which allowed Australians to negotiate lowered rates, helped to ward off that new surge in homelessness.

But eviction moratoriums are set to expire in the coming months, and an estimated 75,000 tenants only secured a rent deferral, meaning they may be liable to pay the balance.

With income support payments also slated to end, the authors say the cumulative impact could be significant.

“With the eviction moratoriums also due to expire in the new year, supported households who do not snap back to their full pre-COVID-19 employment status and income will be at risk, especially if they are carrying deferred rent liabilities from the emergency,” the report’s authors state.

ACOSS also praised states and territories for rapidly deploying emergency accommodation for homeless Australians during the crisis.

However, the organisation questioned the continuing impact of those measures, saying that less than one third of the 8,000 rough sleepers who left emergency accommodation by September had been assisted into long-term housing.

Pointing to temporary housing relief measures and income support payments, ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie said federal and state governments should “build on their good work during the pandemic and finally get us on track to end homelessness in Australia.”

Goldie said Australia should increase investment in public housing, reducing the risk of homelessness while engaging the construction sector and supporting the nation’s economic recovery.

The new report comes just weeks after the Productivity Commission revealed the boosted JobSeeker income support payment, which is expected to end on March 31, pulled more than 155,000 Australians from the verge of extreme rental stress.

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