The value of commonwealth rent assistance payments has been decreasing since 2008, with rental costs increasing at a faster rate than inflation since the global financial crisis.
The federal government has also been contributing less to the national affordable housing agreement in recent years, with commonwealth payments decreasing from $2.2bn in 2011-12 to just $1.8bn last financial year.
The Productivity Commission’s 2017 report on government services released two chapters on Tuesday on community services and housing and homelessness.
The housing and homelessness chapter shows there were 1,345,983 recipients of commonwealth rent assistance nationally in June 2016, receiving a median payment of $130 a fortnight.
It says the median fortnightly rent in Sydney was $500, followed by Perth and Darwin ($480), the Australian Capital Territory ($460), Brisbane ($468), Melbourne ($380), Adelaide ($433), and Hobart ($400).
Rental stress is defined as more than 30% of household income being spent on rent. Some 68.2% of rent assistance recipients would have paid more than 30% of their gross income on rent if assistance was not provided, but with assistance that proportion fell to 41.2%, the report found. Those figures are unchanged from the previous year.
Under the national affordable housing agreement and associated national partnership agreements, the federal government provides funding for housing and homelessness services – for which states and territories have primary responsibility.
The report shows the federal government contributed $2.2bn in 2011-12, falling to $1.8bn in 2015-16.
But its chapter on community services shows recurrent spending by federal and state governments on community services was $30.7bn in 2015-16, worth 10% of total government outlays.
Community services, as defined in the report, include support for children, families and carers, residential care and supported accommodation, youth justice services, and training, vocational rehabilitation and employment services.
Real government recurrent spending on community services in 2011-12 was $25.9bn.
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