The newly introduced Social Services Legislation Amendment (Housing Affordability) Bill 2017 includes a provision to automatically deduct rent from government payments for social housing tenants. The government argues this is to help social housing tenants pay rent on time and avoid eviction through rent default. The Automatic Rent Deduction Scheme (ARDS) would provide for social housing tenants to have their rent and other housing costs automatically paid to their social housing provider out of their welfare payment from March 2018, and would be a more stringent mechanism than the current voluntary Rent Deduction Scheme (RDS). The Bill also includes amendments to the National Rental Affordability Scheme Act 2008 (NRAS Act). NRAS aims to increase the supply of new and affordable rental dwellings by providing financial incentives to housing providers for up to 10 years to keep rents for properties 20 per cent below market rate.
