A plan to automatically dock the welfare payments of social housing tenants to pay for rent and property damage could harm victims of family violence and make it more difficult for them to leave violent relationships, advocates have warned.
The Coalition announced its intention to create an automatic rent deduction scheme earlier this year, which would allow social housing organisations to strip a person’s welfare to pay for rent, utilities, or damage to the property.
The government said the scheme, due to begin in March, would help prevent homelessness by ensuring tenants were not evicted for non-payment. It cited figures from 2013-14 showing more than 8,900 social housing households owed more than three weeks of rent.
The bill is currently before the Senate but a committee on Wednesday evening urged for amendments to protect vulnerable groups.
Welfare advocates have already slammed the plan, saying it would have unintended consequences.
The National Social Security Rights Network said it would make it more difficult for victims of family violence to easily leave abusive partners.
The network said women who need to leave property quickly may not have the time to terminate the lease or notify authorities, and would be therefore liable to have their rent automatically deducted.
The average cost of leaving a violent relationship is $18,000, according to the Australian Council of Trade Unions, and losing part of an already meagre welfare payment to rent could make that unaffordable.
“They may not be prepared or able to end their tenancy agreement before leaving the property and the automatic rent payments may limit their options,” the network said in a submission.
Female tenants could also be billed for damage caused to the property by their abusive partners. The National Shelter executive officer, Adrian Pisarski, said the Victorian ombudsman had already found victims of family violence were being pursued for property damage caused by their partners.
“One of the things the ombudsman in Victoria points to … is the case where people, especially women, have suffered domestic violence and their property has been damaged by a partner in a family violence incident where they are clearly not liable for that,” Pisarski told the Senate committee last month.
“But in the Victorian ombudsman’s experience, those women … have been pursued for maintenance and repair claims for that damage.”
The scheme would also punish those welfare recipients who had urgent and more important costs than rent. An individual on Newstart, for example, would prioritise urgent medical treatment over paying for rent.
“The scheme removes the flexibility for people to manage their finances in cases where there are payments more urgent than rent, such as the need for urgent medical or dental treatment,” the National Social Security Rights Network said.
The community affairs committee on Wednesday recommended a cap be placed on the amount of rent that could be deducted, to ensure “an amount is available to meet a tenant’s other basic and reasonable needs”.
It also recommended the government clearly spell out how the deduction scheme would interact with other types of income management, like the cashless welfare card.
The committee said the government should notify a tenant when their lessor had made a request to automatically deduct their rent.
They should be notified of the department’s decision, the amount that will be deducted and when it will be deducted. Tenants should also be given information on financial counselling and other support services, the committee said.
The Greens have already signalled they will oppose parts of the bill. Senator Rachel Siewert said it was the latest example of the government’s “warpath against vulnerable people”.
“Taking money directly out of someone’s income support payment for rent makes it more difficult for people to manage their money,” Siewert said.
“Damaged property can be as a result of domestic violence, to take money from someone’s income support to pay for this damage when they are struggling financially and may still be trapped in a violent relationship shows sheer callousness by the commonwealth.”
She said it would also allow the government to “dip in” to the small amount of money not being managed by the government’s cashless welfare card, which quarantines 80% of social security payments.
“This could take the final strand of financial flexibility from people doing it tough and removes autonomy,” she said.
